Green Nova
by Cyclops is Right
Summary: Sam Alexander encounters a Green Lantern ring from another universe but combined with the Nova force, a strange event occurs. His whole past is erased and his life has been rewritten. In order to get his life back, he has to remember.
1. Chapter 1

**QUICK NOTE BEFORE WE GET STARTED: **The following story has me attempt to get both Marvel's Nova Corps lore and DC's Green Lantern lore correct. Which is a _lot _of lore. So if I get any incorrect (namely Nova Corps information because I'm mostly familiar with the GLs) please bear with me. But if I do, consider that this is an AU/crossover so take it with grain. Thank you.

* * *

As per Nova shenanigans, zooming around the asteroid belt never gets old. He was on his way to Knowhere to catch up with Cosmo the talking Russian astronaut dog. Being a space-faring superhero has its strangely awesome perks. Except when your space-faring superhero father straight up disappears.

The thought of Jesse Alexander reminds Sam of what he's doing out here: to look for him. Well, that and figure out how his helmet works. He had spoken to the Worldmind about it, but he had yet to dabble more into his power levels. The Worldmind itself was Richard Rider, the last of the Novas other than Sam himself. Being connected to the minds of all the fallen Novas made Richard extraordinarily powerful. As a matter of fact, Sam wondered what happened to Richard Rider.

"S'pose I'll find out some other day." he says aloud, setting foot on Knowhere.

He looks around for Cosmo, who was head of security here in Knowhere so if there was any commotion Cosmo would probably be there. And as if on cue, an alien runs by being shouted at for being a thief.

"Welp." Sam cracks his knuckles and stretches, "Didn't expect to be kicking butt so soon but here we are."

He simply aims a blast of Nova energy at the alien's feet which caused him to fall forward. On the ground, the alien doesn't move, possibly rendered unconscious when his face hit the ground. Quite an easy feat, considering what Sam has faced in the past. He flies over to see what this guy has stolen just as Cosmo finds his way over here.

"Comrade Alexander! It is nice to be seeink you!" the dog exclaims with his accent. Cosmo was telepathic, so every word he speaks was projected into the listener's mind.

"Hey Cosmo, what's up?" Sam greets, giving Cosmo a nice scratch behind the ears. Cosmo wags his tail happily, "Cosmo was chasink the thief but luckily you came along my friend!" he barks.

Sam nods, and waves his hand in a dismissive motion. "It was no biggie, I just made the guy fall. Besides, what was he stealing anyway? I don't see anything."

Cosmo sniffs around the fallen alien, and points at the alien's fist with his nose. "There is somethink he clutches in his fist. It glows a green color. Cosmo wonder if it is mint flavored."

Curious, Sam goes over and investigates. Indeed, whatever the alien was holding was emitting a green light, making muffled noises like it was talking. "Let's see what this baby is, shall we?" Sam briefly looks over at Cosmo who barks his confirmation. He starts to pry open the alien's fist but before he even got far, the little green object shoots out. Once in view it becomes clear that this object is a ring of some sort. Now Sam and Cosmo could clearly hear what it was saying.

**ɢʀᴇᴇɴ ʟᴀɴᴛᴇʀɴ ᴏғ sᴇᴄᴛᴏʀ- ℮ґґ◎ґ. sᴇᴄᴛᴏʀ ᴜɴᴋɴᴏᴡɴ. ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ sᴜɪᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ʀᴇᴘʟᴀᴄᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ. **

Cosmo cocks his head and pants. "Interestink. Cosmo never seen this before."

"Yeah…" Sam cocks his head similarly. "I agree- I wonder if the Guardians know what this is. Maybe we should ask them about it."

The green ring floats around them in circles, making calculations. It repeats the same words, "**ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ sᴜɪᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ʀᴇᴘʟᴀᴄᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ**" as if it was scanning all the people on Knowhere at the same time. Cosmo watches it with curiosity, wiggling his nose at it. "Cosmo wonder who ring will be choosink."

"Yeah-" Sam starts but he never got to finish as the ring finds its answer, the potential wielder was right there all along.

**sᴀᴍ ᴀʟᴇxᴀɴᴅᴇʀ ᴏғ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ-616 ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ᴏᴠᴇʀᴄᴏᴍᴇ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ғᴇᴀʀ. **

The ring floats steadily in front of Sam before slipping itself onto his right middle finger. The surge of willpower sparks a bright light in Sam's vision, blocking out all of his senses. With the black ops Nova helmet and the ring's powers combined, it caused some sort of chain reaction.

**ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴇᴇɴ ʟᴀɴᴛᴇʀɴ ᴄᴏʀᴘs.**

Sam could barely hear the last words, nor he could hear Cosmo's barks of concern. All he heard was a ringing in his ears, and all he saw was a brand new life flash before him. He wanted to call out for his mom, or reach out for his sister but soon their names were forgotten. Not even his father he could remember.

At first, Sam just saw flashes of _them. _The Green Lantern Corps and its various members, he got to see glimpses of the other corps and then his new life began.

_"Welcome to the world Samuel Martin Jordan." _he heard his mother say in the flash forward. But this wasn't his real mother, this was someone else. His new mother was fair skinned with charcoal colored hair. Then his saw his new father, brown hair, aviator jacket.

Each of them wore a ring, his new mother's violet, and his new father's green.

Sam wanted to ask what was happening, but his mouth was dry and the life before his zoomed forward in time.

Now he was a toddler, playing with toy planes in the yard while his parents looked on with pride. Their hearts glowed with their love for eachother, and yet something was wrong. His father had to leave to space, leaving his mother to watch over Sam.

_Th-this isn't my family. _He thought, although just as the words formed in his head, they were taken away as he was forced to watch.

The vision cuts to Sam as a kid, getting a surprise birthday gift from his dad as he comes home. His father opens up a large box, waiting to see Sam's reaction as a puppy jumps out and licked his face.

The phenomenon continues, cutting to various points in his life, removing all of Sam's memories on Earth-616 before being trusted into this new reality right where it left off.

No more was he Sam Alexander, now he was Sam Jordan, son of the greatest Green Lantern who ever lived.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam wakes up this morning the same way he always does: a disheveled mess. He usually ends up falling asleep with a comic resting on his chest and a flashlight at his side from when he was reading last night. His mother Carol opens the door and allows Cosmo to come bounding into the room.

Cosmo jumps up onto Sam's bed, knocking off the comic and begins to lick Sam's face. Momentarily, Sam is discombobulated, completely forgetting where he is for a moment. "Ugh…" he moans, "some dream that was…"

"Well kiddo," Carol says, leaning on the doorframe, "if you can escape Dreamland, you oughtta get ready because you're coming to work with me. Then you can tell me all about your dream."

"Aw, sweet!" The news got him out of bed fast, he loved going to his mom's job. Even more so when his dad went too. Sam eagerly jumps up, ready to hop into the shower for a quick wash. His excitement even startled Cosmo who is running anxious circles around Sam's room.

His parents worked at the same place, Ferris Aircraft. His mom inherited the place from his granddad, and his dad was a test pilot there. Only, the problem is, is that Hal was hardly present for work at all. He was too busy with his Green Lantern duties.

After showering, Sam calls out to Carol asking if Hal was home today.

"Come see for yourself!" she calls back and those words definitely meant he was here.

Hurrying to put his clothes on fast, Sam bolts out of his room pulling his shirt down and fastening his belt. Waiting for him in the doorway was his dad, wearing his aviator jacket was always. Hal was a bit of a cartoon character that way, always wearing the same outfit everyday.

Overjoyed upon seeing him, Sam practically threw himself into Hal's arms. "Dad!" he exclaims, and proceeds to bombard Hal with a barrage of questions. "How was space? How's Guy and the rest? Did you guys do anything cool?"

Hal hugs his son and ruffles up his hair, chuckling softly. "Whoa, one question at a time. I know it's been a bit, but give a guy some time to think!"

Sam smiles sheepishly while Carol watches bemused, "Sorry…" he says. "But really, how's everything?"

"Everything is great Sam." Hal answers, also amused. It was the same song and dance whenever he came home. "There hasn't been a huge threat since Volthoom. And the guys and doing fine too, they'd like to see you again one day."

"Mom, can I go to Oa with dad one day?" Sam asks, turning towards Carol. "I wanna show Guy that my slugging is getting better, oh and Kyle promised me he'd teach me how to draw and-"

"I'm going to stop you there kiddo." Carol cuts in, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm not so sure going to Oa would be such a great idea."

Sam groans, turning to Hal. "Dad you tell her!"

Hal gives him a sidelong look, glancing at Carol who was giving him the stink-eye, daring him to contradict what she just said. "Yeah… listen to your mother."

"Man!" Sam throws his hands up in defeat, "What's the point in having two superhero parents and you can't even go to space with them!"

His parents exchange a glance before Carol grabs the keys. "Well, we better get going. You're lucky enough you get to come to work with us." she advises, kissing Sam on the head.

Sam grumbles incoherently about "one day" as they open the door to head out. Upon hearing the door open, Cosmo bolts out wanting to come with them. The dog circles around the family van, waiting for entry.

"Look mom, Cosmo wants to come too." Sam points out. "Can he?"

"No." Carol replies curtly. "Not after last time, he nearly got himself hurt."

"Aw…" Sam frowns a bit, giving Cosmo a sympathetic look. _"Cosmo just want to be spendink the time with the family." _he says, speaking for the dog. Ever since Sam has been having wild dreams, he insisted that Cosmo was Russian and proceeded to use this tone of voice. Sam did it so often that even Cosmo came to recognize it in reference to him, the dog perks his ears up.

"Go Cosmo, get back inside." Carol instructs, pointing her finger towards the house and the dog obliges. He walks in slowly with his head and tail hung low, glancing back occasionally. It was enough to break anyone's heart.

"Seeya Cosmo! I'll take you on the _best_ walk when we get back!" Sam calls after him as Hal finally shuts Cosmo inside and locks the door.

The Jordan family pile into the van, and starts driving towards Ferris Aircraft, first taking a little detour for some breakfast doughnuts.

The whole way there Sam recalls the dream he had last night or else he swore he'll forget. "So this talking raccoon and this green lady give me a black helmet, saying that it belonged to me in the last dream right? Then this dream, I was using the helmet. It gave me superpowers, like I was able to fly and shoot power blasts. There were supposed to be other people who had helmets like mine, but they were all dead. I forgot what they were called, but they were like… space cops. Like what dad does."

"They were a corps?" Hal asks, intrigued by Sam's quite colorful dream. He chopped it up to be Sam's wild imagination running free during the night, but it was interesting to hear what he had to say, especially after the one about Cosmo being a telepathic dog.

"Y-yeah!" Sam agrees, his whole face lit up at the word suggestion. "Just like a corps! The whole universe respected them but something happened to all of them. The me in the dream was the only one left. I think I was supposed to restart the corps or something…"

Hal cocks a brow, "You've been reading comics like this?"

Sam pauses before shaking his head. "No, but if Kyle teaches me how to draw, I want to turn my dreams into one." He curled his hand into a fist and bumps the air, romanticizing the idea. It didn't sound so bad, maybe that could be his hobby. His dreams felt too real to be materialized in his head.

"I believe in you son." Hal encourages, glancing back at Sam and smiling. Sam smiles in return getting a sudden pang of worry. Something felt wrong and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. The more intricate his dreams got, the more these feelings occurred. Everyone assumed it was anxiety of some sort and Sam believed it. His life was fine, there was no reason to doubt it. Never in the past had he felt so many negative feelings. "It's just hormones Sam, every teen goes through it." his mom would say.

Blanking out for a few, Sam shakes his head and brings himself back to reality. Perhaps he was just being silly, besides they made it to the Ferris Aircraft compound the place where he could forget everything that worries him and let them fly like jets.

The family exits the van once Carol parks it. "Lemme guess," she starts, turning to look at her husband and son, "Sam you wanna go with your dad?"

"Does a Jordan boy love to fly?" Sam answers. Most males of the Jordan family (save for Hal's brothers) were affiliated with flying so the answer was a resounding yes.

Carol smiles, taking a mental picture of her boys, breathing in the moment. "Take care of him highball." she says, giving Hal a quick kiss. She then pats Sam on the shoulder, leaning over so she could whisper in his ear. "And you take care of _him_ kiddo."

"Take care boys." She leaves for her office leaving the two alone.

"So." Hal takes off his jacket and places it around Sam's shoulders. "Who's ready for some high flying fun?"


	3. Chapter 3

Sam watches his dad fly from behind the fence, keeping his jacket warm for him. Also left behind with Sam was Hal's ring. Hal had the tendency to fly planes without it for the thrill and exhilaration of the danger. Martin Jordan was a cautionary tale, but that never stopped Hal from doing what he loved. If Carol were to find out that Hal went up without his ring, she'd flip, and when she finds out that Sam was keeping it a secret, it's over. But for now, it was a father-son secret they bond over.

Not once Sam has ever tried to put on his father's ring, even holding it made him feel more powerful somehow. Hal's ring was different from all the other Green ring-slingers because he forged it from his own willpower in his time of need. It was things like this that made Sam appreciate the parents he has. They were probably the coolest parents out there. Even when he had his moments of doubt, it was quickly forgotten when he looked at Carol or Hal.

Tearing his eyes from the sky for a brief moment, Sam takes a brief look at his dad's ring, tracing the rim with his thumb. As if reacting to Sam's touch, the ring begins to glow.

**ɪɴᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɴsᴍɪssɪᴏɴ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴜɴᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ʟᴏᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ.**

"Wh- huh?"

The ring projects a hologram of a man in strange armor and a helmet, similar to what Sam has been seeing in his dreams. This time, the name was on the tip of his tongue.

"**sᴀᴍ ᴀʟᴇxᴀɴᴅᴇʀ, sᴏᴍᴇʜᴏᴡ ɪ ғᴇᴇʟ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴜsᴛ ʙᴇ sᴇᴇɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪs sᴏ ʟɪsᴛᴇɴ ᴜᴘ.**" the man in the hologram instructs, causing Sam to furrow his brows in a puzzled fashion. "Alexander? Who's Alexander?"

"**sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ɪs ᴡʀᴏɴɢ sᴀᴍ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀsᴇs ᴛʜᴇʏ- ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴄᴏlℓї∂℮∂ . †ℌ℮¥ ◎-◎ṽ℮ґℓѦ℘℘℮∂ Ѧη∂ ƒ◎ℓ∂℮∂ ◎η†◎ ℮Ѧ¢ℌ ◎†ℌ℮ґ ¢Ѧʊ﹩їηℊ ᴀɴ anomaly.**"

The connection caused the hologram to sound garbled and washed out so Sam could only understand half of what he just said.

"Excuse me, what now?" he asked, but the message wasn't being transmitted in real time, it was only a recording.

"**ᴛʜᴇ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀsᴇ ɪs ɪɴ ᴛʀᴏᴜʙʟᴇ sᴀᴍ, ʏ-ʏᴏᴜ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ғɪɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇʟᴍᴇᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ғɪx ᴛʜɪs ғᴀsᴛ. ʏ◎ʊ мѦ¥ ℮ †ℌ℮ ◎ηℓ¥ ℌ◎℘℮.**"

San scoffs, taken aback. _"My helmet? _Like the one in my dreams?"

The recording cut off prematurely, leaving important information unheard. "Erm, _hello?"_ Sam squinted at the ring, shaking it as if that were to do a thing. He understood how serious this could be, considering the kind of world he lived in, and _especially _since his father was a Green Lantern and his ring just spoke to him. The ring even said Sam's name, that couldn't have been a coincidence. Even if Samuel was a common name and his last name didn't match the one given, what other Sam had something to do with Hal Jordan?

Meanwhile, Hal lands the plane for another test well done and begins to make his way over.

Growing nervous, Sam's hand begins to shake. _What am I going to do? I gotta tell dad… something about that man is itching my brain. Where do I know him from?_

"Hey kid." Hal greets from the other side of the fence. He has his helmet tucked under his arm and used his other hand to unlock the gate. "You seemed lost in thought, something bothering you?"

"What? Why would you say that? Nothing is bothering me." Sam lies, trying to play it off. He didn't want to lie, but the words just slid right off his tongue. Hal looks at Sam questioningly, his father senses urging him to press on. "Nothing bothering you huh? Have you been texting that girl, what's her name… Khamela? Are you having girl issues son because-"

"No!" Sam shouts. His face flushed pink as he crosses his arms and pouts. "I am _not _having girl problems."

Seeing Sam flustered caused Hal to chuckle ever so slightly. "Well if it isn't that…" Hal goes over and places a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Then what is it?"

"Um…" Sam looks down at his sneakers, wishing he had never heard the transmission. _Oh look, my shoe is untied_. He thinks, trying to be distracted. He'd rather be anywhere than here right about now.

"Sam?"

Sam lifts his gaze up to his father, biting his lower lip. "So um, hypothetically, let's say your ring spoke to me."

Hal gives him a perplexed expression, slowly nodding "Yeah-?"

"_Completely _hypothetical." Sam emphasizes.

"Yes."

"That the ring… spoke to me."

"And then?"

"It wasn't a Green Lantern but one of those corps members from my dreams. And he sounded pretty vague."

"What did he say?"

"Hypothetically, remember."

"Sam, spit it out now!" Hal demands, getting a little upset.

"Okay!" Sam juts out his hand that holds his father's ring and begins to ramble. "He told me that _something _was wrong and that I needed to get my helmet to fix it! There were other things about worlds collapsing but the signal wasn't very good and I missed that part. Also there was supposed to be more but I missed that too."

Surprisingly, Hal took this very well. "How did he get onto a Green Lantern frequency…" he wonders aloud. "And… this must mean your dreams might have a grain of truth to them. We have to tell Carol."

"Tell mom?!" Sam squeaks, his voice cracking. _Damn being a teenager. _"She's gonna freak!"

Hal shoots him a warning look, not taking any of that nonsense. "Your mom very well deserves to know too because she is your _mother_ first of all and not only that she's a Star Sapphire. If this message was directed to you, we sure as hell are going to make sure our son is going to be okay."

Sam blinks, not prepared for that mini lecture at all. "... That was cheesy dad."

"Yes, I know." Hal kisses Sam on his forehead. "That's what dads are for."

"And you're probably the corniest one." Sam jokes, feeling a whole lot better. "Well we better face mom's wrath sooner or later."

"Let's make that sooner, c'mon kiddo the world possibly hangs in the balance." Hal says, draping an arm around Sam's shoulders, guiding him inside.

"Yeesh, no big or anything."


	4. Chapter 4

Hal and Sam make their way into the Ferris building, going up the elevator to the floor where Carol's office is.

For a few minutes they stand there awkwardly with Superman's theme music playing softly over the elevator radio. Truthfully they were both nervous about how Carol was going to react, of the three of them she was the most grounded, the most down to Earth, even when she really wanted to be up there with the two of them.

The elevator finally opens and the two head down the hall. They stop right in front of Carol's door at the end, it had her name embroidered on a bronze placard.

"Okay sport, just told her exactly the same thing you said to me. Minus all that hypothetical stuff, get straight to the point." says Hal, getting ready to lightly rap on the door.

Sam gulps and nods and his dad knocks.

"Hold on a second-" comes Carol's voice on the other side, "Come in!"

Father and son enter the office to see Carol on the phone, holding her hand over it. "Oh, boys, what can I do for you?"

"Go ahead Sam."

Sam sinks into the seat that's in front of Carol's desk and subconsciously lets out a whimper. His mom can be quite scary when she's mad. She hangs up the phone giving her son her undivided attention.

He begins to explain everything he told Hal as fast as possible that if barely even registered in Carol's head. She sits there and blinks, as if trying to adjust her eyes to see what Sam was trying to say.

"So… let me get this straight, a strange man wants _you_, a teenage boy to go find this helmet thing and fix something that you aren't even sure about." Carol rubs her temples, feeling stress seep into her soon to be throbbing veins.

Sam nods, "And get this, he called me Sam _Alexander._"

Hal gives Sam a curious look, "You didn't tell me that part."

Carol's eyes widen, "Well then it mustn't have been you. Sam is a common name."

"B-but it was on dad's ring! What other Sam would he mean?" Sam turns to Hal and gestures to his ring. "Show her and then you'll both see!"

Hal holds out his fist, willing the ring to broadcast the message again. It starts up again, "**sᴀᴍ ᴀʟᴇxᴀɴᴅᴇʀ, sᴏᴍᴇʜᴏᴡ ɪ ғᴇᴇʟ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴜsᴛ ʙᴇ sᴇᴇɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪs sᴏ ʟɪsᴛᴇɴ ᴜᴘ.**"

Upon seeing it, Sam's parents look on in awe, unsure of what to do.

"**sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ɪs ᴡʀᴏɴɢ sᴀᴍ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀsᴇs ᴛʜᴇʏ- ErrOr.**" The ring cuts off. The holo-constuct malfunctions and fizzes out of view.

**ᴜɴᴀʙʟᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʀᴀɴsᴍɪᴛ ᴍᴇssᴀɢᴇ ᴀɴʏᴍᴏʀᴇ. **

Carol huffs and crosses her arms, "Well I think I've seen enough anyway." she declares, her face turning a tinge of red.

Both Hal and Sam looked at her expectantly to hear any kind of verdict, but no avail. Carol stares at the table, trying to wrap her head around this.

"Carol…" Hal starts calmly, moving to sit on the table. "I think I should help Sam with this."

"I trust you enough to figure this out, but I don't want him to go." Carol replies numbly.

Sam winces upon hearing the words, he wanted to say something but thought better of it. _Best let dad handle this. _He thinks.

"Carol." Hal states again. He slips his hand under her chin, pulling her gaze to look up at him. "The message was meant for him, I know it. He's been having dreams like this for as long as we can remember. He'll be safe with me, I promise."

Carol sighs, guiding her husband's hand to her cheek. "I know you'll protect him, but I can't help but worry… I-i should come too."

"You've got the business Carol-"

"And so what? I've left before for a long period of time and it has been just fine without me. You always go off and do Green Lantern duty and you don't even live down here anymore. Always hanging out up there with your brother _buddies._" Carol spits, projecting her inability to have a free spirit unto him. She moves his hand away from his face.

Hal knitted his brows together, wearing a hurt expression."Carol, you know it's not like that. With Simon and Jessica here on Earth, I'm not allowed to be Green Lantern of this sector."

Sam just keeps quiet, it was rare hearing his parents argue- mostly because Hal was up in space, but the arguments would never be about _this_. Usually it would be because of Hal's recklessness… not about Carol feeling lonely. Sam's ears flushed with heat in embarrassment for them both, squirming in his seat.

Carol glances at Sam seeing his discomfort and then back at Hal. "I know…" she takes a deep breath to deescalate the situation. "I'll let you two go… but soon, I'll be joining you two as Star Sapphire."

Sam lights up in surprise and excitement. "Really?!"

"Yes really." Carol slowly nods before going mother hen on him. "Now you go with his and you behave, you hear me young man?"

"Yes mom…"

Carol leans over and kisses Sam's forehead. _"Good luck my little nova…"_ she whispers.

Sam smiles. "Thanks mom. We'll be waiting for you up there."

Carol dips her head, and before any further words can be discussed Hal clears his throat. "'Um, where's _my_ kiss?" he asks.

"You're right." Carol pulls her husband down toward her by his shirt collar. "Who knows how long it will be until I see you again."

The two promptly begin a make out session like two adolescents in the hallway between classes. Sam gags and turns away, he hated when they did this in front of him.

_"Daaaad…"_

Hal pulls away, sliding off of the table. "Alright son, I'm coming. Not like you can leave without me anyway."

Full of energy, Sam heads to the door. "By mom! Love you!" he waves enthusiastically.

"Love you too sweetheart." Carol calls back, her painted lips drawn into a smile. She had no doubt that her sound would do great things.

As Sam heads back outside with his dad, he realised something.

"Wait… you've got your lantern ring… how am I going to get into space?" he asks, looking up at Hal.

Hal folds his ring bearing hand into a fist. The ring glows and his civilian attire dissolves into the Green Lantern uniform, the last thing forming being the mask. He creates a construct bubble around Sam, trapping oxygen in it.

"Hold on tight because we're getting ready to fly."

Without warning, Hal bolts up into the air until Ferris Aircraft is nothing but a playhouse below them. Alarmed, Sam claws at the walls of the bubble trying to hold on for dear life. He was terrified for a moment before realizing that he was actually _flying! _He'd been on a plane with his dad piloting once, but he's never flown like this before.

Sam gets on his knees and surveys the fast disappearing ground below them. _"Wow…"_ he whispers in sheer amazement.

Hal smiles wide upon seeing his son's reaction. "Pretty cool isn't it?"

"Way cool."

"Just wait until we peak the atmosphere and get into space."

Sam's heart flutters. _Space! I'm finally going to see it!_

Once they crested the atmosphere, the clouds become blankets around them, causing condensation around Sam's protective bubble.

Soon they see starts and Earth is nothing but a large blue sphere below.

Sam presses his face against the construct watching the planet from this view. "Is this how you feel all the time?"

Hal nods, "Yes. Space is quite beautiful, and scary too. The only thing I love other than you or your mother would be the stars. I have loved them so much that they have become a part of me."

Sam grins, watching the shining stars dance off the white reflection of Hal's eyes under his mask. "There you go being cheesy again dad."

"The grandeur of space does that to a person."

"I can tell."

Sam looks back at Earth which was farther away now. "So… where're we heading first?" he asks.

"Oa. There's some things we can research about your helmet. Perhaps the Guardians know about it."

"Sweet! Will Guy, John, and Kyle be there?"

Hal shrugs, "Most likely, if they aren't on some other mission."

"Can't wait."

"Won't be needing to wait long, in a second we're about to go really fast." Hal states.

"Wait how fa-"

Too late, Hal picks up the pace before Sam could ask his question, a streak of green follows in their wake.

Pushed up against the back of the bubble, Sam sits tight. He thinks he make overturn his doughnut breakfast he had that morning.


	5. Chapter 5

Fairly soon, the Green Lantern hub world of Oa comes into view.

"Take a look son, we're here." Hal says. His lips twitched into a smile as he glances at Sam for his reaction.

Sam stands up in the bubble and gazes at Oa's likeliness. "So this is it huh?" he asks.

Hal dips his head. "It is."

Sam nods in understanding before pausing. He looks up at his dad sheepishly, raising a brow. "Will I be able to breathe there?"

"Well, breathe it in for yourself."

Once they were in Oa's atmosphere and slowly make their descent, Hal opens the bubble up. He replaced a bubble with a construct around Sam's waist so Sam would still be tethered to him as he glides.

All around were Green Lanterns of many races flying about or walking around. Some even smile and wave once they see Hal, and in surprise they wave to Sam too. The experience was jarring for Sam, seeing all these inhuman people who worked with his dad. They did a double-take when they saw Sam as well, but asked nothing of it. They carried on as usual.

Hal lands so that Sam can be on solid ground again. Sam's legs were all wobbly like he was just on a cruise ship or something and needed his land legs back.

One of the Green Lanterns who was particularly hog-like in appearance comes to greet them.

"Jordan! Back so soon? Didn'tcha just leave?" The Green Lantern asks.

Sam tilts his head up to look at the newcomer and then turns to his dad. _"Dad, who's the pig?"_ he whispers behind his hand.

Hal chuckles, patting Sam on the shoulder. "Kilowog meet my son Sam. Sam, Kilowog."

Sam waves shyly. "Hullo."

Kilowog snorts, "A mini poozer, well I'll be. I'm finally meetin' him. But still, what brings you here? And why bring him too?"

Hal inhales deeply, preparing himself for a long winded explanation, but Kilowog gets called away.

"Eh, sorry Jordan. Hafta get back to ya on that. Maybe you'd like to see Gardner, he just came in after a mission." Kilowog apologizes for having to leave and departs. He was needed for rookie training. Fairly soon, Hal spots Guy and waves him over.

Guy was just leaving the main hub building and flew over in a hurry. "Hally boy! An' look who it is, Jordan Jr." Guy gives a slow whistle, eyeing Sam's height. "Gotten taller now, eh slugger?"

"Guy!" Sam shouts, fake out punching Guy's stomach. Guy Gardner was practically his uncle, as a matter of fact, Sam was pretty sure he was his legal Godfather.

"Good to see ya." Guy says with a smile. He ruffles Sam's hair and playfully punches his shoulder.

"Where's Kyle and John?" asks Sam, who is trying to fix up his hair, but it is far too gone. He just lets it flop over.

Guy taps his chin, "Kylie is probably moping somewhere with a pencil an' paper." he answers. Kylie was Guy's nickname for Kyle just to spite him, even when he wasn't around. "Now Johnny boy is dealin' with some man I found, orbiting around Oa's gravitational pull. Just left them alone right now."

"Strange." Hal remarks, "What did this guy look like?"

Guy gestures the man's height by comparing it to Hal's own height. "About yea height, decked in some kind of armor and helmet. Says his name is Rider, Richard Rider."

Sam and Hal exchange glances, knowing that this man must've been the one trying to contact Sam. Something about the man's name made Sam's ears ring.

Hal turns to Guy, raising a curious brow. "Say, Guy, can we see this Mr. 'Richard Rider'?" he asks. Guy shrugs, "I don't see why not…" he begins. "But what about the boy? Live to see him and all, but why is he here?"

Rather than explaining it from the beginning, Hal just tries to bring up the message again. This time it only starts with "Sam Alexander" before cutting out with an error.

"Hm." Guy crosses his arms, and dips his head. "Yeah that's the guy. Right over this way I s'pose."

Guy leads them inside to where John is interviewing Richard Rider who was given a cell as a precaution.

"Hey Johnny boy, look who's back already." Guy calls out, begging John's attention. John turns toward them, his lips curling into a bit of a smile. Although, it didn't take long for it to falter.

"They want to see Rider." Guy explains, "Somethin' to do with Hal's boy."

"Hi." Sam waves, feeling rather small in this room with lanterns. He's known Guy and John his whole life, but all of a sudden they were making him uncomfortable.

A somewhat familiar voice rattles from inside the cell. "Sam is that you? Is he here?"

Richard Rider sounded sickly, and he was. When the three men reluctantly allowed Sam to see Richard, he looked pained and rather frail. There was a certain weakness you can feel emulating off of him. At a glance, anyone could tell that Richard was a strong man, well built with muscles. But now he looked hollow, his armor hung loosely against him.

When he looked upon Sam, his eyes lit up in rejoice. "Sam! Oh my Lord, I'm so glad you're here!"

Sam gives a weak smile, Richard obviously knew him somehow but the feeling wasn't mutual.

"Oh no…" Richard presses his palms against his helmet. "You don't remember me. It's me, Richard Rider, the Worldmind?"

Sam shook his head solemnly. "Doesn't ring a bell."

"Perhaps you remember the Nova Corps?" Richard asks, his eyes glistening with hope.

_"Nova… Corps?"_ A sudden searing pain crossed Sam's vision, into the deep depths of his brain. He doubled over, holding his head. He saw a flash, of him wearing a helmet like in his dreams.

Getting defensive, Hal grabs Sam's shoulders and pulls him back. "What are you doing?" he grows at Richard.

"He's remembering." Richard replied innocently. "Happened to me just the same. Except now, I'm starting to forget."

"Tell me again Mr. Rider, what is this 'Nova Corps'?" John asks, bitterly cutting in.

"In my, _our _universe, the Nova Corps were an intergalactic peace keeping force. Similar to how you Green Lanterns are." Richard answers with compliance, there was no need to hold anything back… except for one thing. He knew that Sam thought Hal Jordan was his father, at that moment he couldn't bear break the boy's heart.

"What do you mean _our_?" John presses.

Richard looks over at Sam. "Mine… and his. Mine and a lot of others, w-we don't belong here!"

"Who are the others?"

Richard chews his inner cheek, pondering about how he could explain this. "If Sam had is Nova Corps helmet I could show him but… I guess I can let him wear mine."

Sam looks at John expectantly, and then at his father as if asking permission.

John happens to do the same, this was his kid after all. "Hal?"

Hal bites his lower lip, pondering the decision. If anything were to happen to Sam, Carol would kill him, if he didn't kill himself first. "No, I don't like it."

Richard sighs, "Well. The name drops won't make any sense, but an event occurred where certain artifacts from your universe-" he points at Hal, John, and Guy, "- crossed over into ours. It combined with our most powerful artifacts and combined both of our universes. Places were similarities were saw, we overlapped. Such as Peter Parker from our Earth-616 working at The Daily Planet rather than our Daily Bugle. Some changes replace certain people, such as the Black Cat from Earth-616 replacing, what was it again… _Catwoman?_"

"Catwoman? We don't know any Catwoman." Guy chimes in, putting his two cents.

"Exactly. As the Worldmind, I was allowed to retain my memory and forced to relive my life knowing that something was wrong. In the meantime, I did my best to learn about how your Earth used to be. Now, I'm starting to forget…" Richard takes off his helmet, revealing his face under. His eyes were sunken into his skull, darkened with knowledge. "We have to do something and separate our universes and go back to the way things were."

The three Green Lanterns huddle together in question of what to do.

"I say we ditch the nut and throw him back into the gravitational pull." Guy whispers, throwing his arms around Hal and John.

"But what if he's right?" Hal asks.

"But what if he's _wrong_?" John rephrases. "No one but this man says that this merging event occurred. If something was wrong a Green Lantern would know."

Hal slacked his jaw, John was probably right but then he realized something. "The Guardians would know."

Guy snorts indignantly. "You'd think they'd tell us about some _'Nova Corps.'" _he places air quotes around the name.

"Unless Rider is actually correct and that everyone was forced to forget." Hal contradicts, his brain making sparks. Something about it made sense to him.

Guy gestures over to Richard's cell, "And he gets to be the lucky schmuck to remembers it all, hm?"

Richard sighs, listening to their conversation. "Well then you leave me no choice."

He slips his helmet back on, using the last bit of Nova force he has left to blast open the cell. Being in this new amalgamated universe with no real Nova Corps had reduced his power supply.

Active immediately, the three GLs opt to subdue him but Richard fought them off. He blasted them with enough concussive Nova force energy until it was completely gone. Though in a fairly weakened state physically, Richard failed to escape. John had created a construct clamp around him to keep him still.

"You don't understand, I have to find Sam's helmet, the black ops helmet is one of the strongest there is." Richard protests, wriggling around in the construct.

"You act like you know my son." Hal states, stepping up to Richard. He brings his face close so that they're barely nose to nose. "How?" Hal demands, "How do you know him?"

Richard returns the same defiant look in Hal's eyes, determined not to look weaker than he really is at this moment. "_Because_, Sam Alexander is a member of the Nova Corps where I'm from. I met him as the Worldmind. The Worldmind is the collective unit of all fallen Nova Corps member's' intellect. Until Sam showed up, I was the last one. The Nova Corps had died off."

Hal glances back at Sam somberly.

"Just like in my dream dad. That _can't _be a coincidence." Sam says. He walks up to Richard and gives him a friendly smile. "I feel like we were friends in that past life."

Richard nods, returning the smile. "You reminded me of what it was like to be human."

They share an unspoken moment before Hal asks another burning question.

"You keep saying Alexander… he's Jordan. His name is Samuel Martin Jordan… what gives?"

Richard winces like he was slapped in the face. He didn't want to answer that question. Truth be told, while certain people replaced others due to similarities, the new universe sought to replace Jesse Alexander with Hal Jordan. Same goes to Eva Alexander who was replaced with Carol Jordan (or Carol Ferris, who before wasn't married to Hal at all.) As a consequence, Sam's sister Kaelynn never came into existence.

"Because… in my universe your name was… Harold Alexander." Richard lies, biting his tongue in shame. "Also a member of the Nova Corps."

"I… died?"

"Not exactly."

Hal looks at the ground. "I see… John let him go. We have to believe him for now. This isn't our first multi-Earth rodeo."

"Well, multiverse actually." Richard corrects. "Your Earth's only go from negative 52 to 52. Mine are… well hard to count. You all come from your Earth Prime. I come from Earth-616."

A little peeved at being corrected, Hal rolls his eyes. "Exactly, now John let him go."

Reluctantly John listens. "Alright, but he's now _your_ responsibility Hal. If anything happens, as Head of the Green Lantern Corps, I will hold you accountable.

Hal nods, "Wouldn't have it any other way."

Dumbfounded Guy glances at everyone in the room with a bewildered expression. "That's it? That's all it takes? We're just gonna let it go?" He jabs a finger at Richard, "He may be insane for all we know, or playin' tricks on us an' Sam."

John starts to pull Guy away, "Don't worry about it Guy. When someone cries interdimensional wolf, you listen."

Guy grumbles incoherently and crosses his arms. "I guess you're right…"

Soon the two are out of eyesight, their talking getting lower and lower the farther they get.

"So…" Hal turns towards Richard and offers his a good natured handshake. "Good to have you Richard because you have a _lot_ more to explain."

Richard smiles despite himself, "I'm more than willing."


	6. Chapter 6

The three exit the hub building while Richard elaborates further. "From now on, I'll refer to my university as 616 and yours as Prime. For all we know, it could be only these two distinct planets that have merged." Richard starts, looking at Hal and Sam to see if they get the gist. They nod and he continues.

"On 616 the Nova Corps is the police force just like you GLs. Except we have a school for our Novas. You start as a corpsman and make your way up. I myself am a centurion. One of the highest places you can be. As a centurion I get to access the most power levels of the Nova force. But as you can see, I have become weakened. The Nova force I had has completely depleted, it's gone and who even knows if it exists now."

Hal dips his head in understanding, "Perhaps the Guardians would know."

_"Guardians."_ Richard repeats wistfully. "You've said that before, I hope that they're the same people I know."

"The Guardians of the universe-"

Before Richard could hear anymore, his heart fell. He tried to find where his friends Peter Quill, Gamora, and the rest were but no avail. "Guess these Guardians aren't the same." he states all defeated like. "Never mind."

"Well, we can at least ask Ganthet and Sayd. They're the most grounded of the Guardians." Hal offers hopefully. "Sam you go ahead and wait."

_"B-but!" _Sam yelped in protest, but his voice gave way into cracking. _"Fuck!" _he curses through his teeth, stamping his foot. In response Hal shoots Sam a warning look, daring him to swear again. Not like Hal doesn't swear himself, but it's different when it's your son.

"We'll meet back up later, not just anyone can be the Guardians' audience you know." Hal informs.

"Yeah… makes sense."

"And _behave._"

"Yes dad."

"Good, see you in a bit." Hal turns and walks off with Richard.

"You seem to have a good relationship with him." Richard remarks, his eyes darting back to a sullen Sam.

"Yeah, why?" Hal asks bitterly, getting defensive.

"U-um." Richard bites his lower lip, cursing himself for saying such a thing. "Because… from what I hear, Mr. Alexander wasn't the best father in Sam's life. But when he went missing, Sam realized he loved him dearly. He wouldn't quit looking for him no matter the cost. The black Nova helmet belonged to J- Sam's dad first and then Sam inherited." he explains, trying not to reveal too much.

"Hm." Hal upturned his nose to the sky. "Have any kids of your own Rider?"

"Well um no, actually." Richard shakes his head. "But I've had the pleasure of spending time with Sam. And please, call me Richard, or Rich."

"Hm." Hal begins to float to where the Guardians reside, turning back to Richard expectantly.

"Sorry." Richard taps his helmet. "No power, no flight."

Hal shrugs, showing it wasn't an issue and creates a construct around Richard to lift him up into the air too.

Watching them fly away, Sam turns his back on them and scuffs his sneaker on the ground. _So much for being involved. _

He crinkles his nose, pouting. _Guess I'll hafta explore then. _

Sam walks around Oa, trying not to bump into any Green Lanterns he doesn't know, especially the intimidating ones. He's never seen so many alien races in his life before, hell he's only met Superman once and even then, he was more human than the rest of these guys. A part of him wanted to learn more about these aliens because he found them cool and then the other part was being a frightened little baby.

_Come on Sam, these are the good guys anyway. There's nothing to be scared of. _

Downing his fear into a gulp, Sam wasn't paying attention when he bumped into a familiar face.

"Kyle!"

"Sam?" Kyle looks at the boy with both eyebrows raised. He had his sketchbook tucked under his arm and a pencil behind his ear. "What're you doing here?"

"Eh… long story, I'm sure somebody will fill you in." Sam waves his hand in dismissal of the subject. He then grabs for Kyle's sketchbook who in turn holds it high over his head.

"Yeah… no. I don't think so." Kyle taunts, waving the sketchbook over his head. "Is your dad here?"

"Well how else would I get to Oa." Sam snarks, placing his hands on his hips.

Kyle sniffs indignantly, "Fair point."

"Hey…" Sam rubs his chin, getting an idea. While Hal and Richard take care of business, perhaps he could get information of his own. "Do you know about any important artifacts?"

Kyle shrugs, "I mean, all lantern rings are pretty powerful. Each color having a different caliber of strengths up their sleeve. But Black and White are especially unique. When I was the White Lantern I used to have a piece of the Life Equation."

"Mhm, and what about artifacts that may have shown up just recently on the GL radar?" Sam asks.

"That's an awfully specific question Sam."

Sam grabs his nose bridge and sighs. "Yeah, I know. But things like Dr. Fate's helm or Nth metal. Anything that spells out of place but also really powerful like something called a black Nova helmet?"

Kyle blinks, quite taken aback. He wasn't sure what to say. "I don't know anything about a Nova helmet but… as of late things _have_ been popping up. I mean- they have been for years, but even more so now." Kyle awkwardly scratches the back of his head. "And they're just as you describe it, out of place, even for something like the mystical forces of Nabu that possess Dr. Fate's helm. Compare that to the eye of… what was it called? _Agamotto_, and there's a clear difference. The eye of Agamotto comes from an otherworldly place."

Sam wasn't prepared for Kyle to agree _and _elaborate to him. He just opened his mouth prepared to say something but stood there quote shocked. "Um…" Sam utters, "As if some other Earth shifted right onto this one?"

Kyle nods. "Yeah, kind of. I wouldn't have put it like that until you brought it up."

"How do you know about this… eye thing?"

"Saint Walker told me, he and the Blue Lanterns somehow acquired it." Kyle explains. Saint Walker was the head of the Blue Lantern Corps, the emotional spectrum embodiment of hope. Just as the Green Lanterns embody willpower.

Sam absorbs the information like a sponge, hoping to retain it long enough to relay it back to Hal and Richard.

"Well this conversation turned deep." Kyle remarks, "You okay?"

Sam nods vigorously, "Yeah! I am! No need to worry about me." he says, which of course causes Kyle to get an inkling of worry. "What about you? Are you good? Guy said you were moping in your sketchbook."

Embarrassed, Kyle's face starts to flush. "Ah well… y'know."

"No I don't really know." Sam pesters, prodding Kyle's side. Sam keeps prodding like the annoying teen he chooses to be and Kyle keeps trying to swat his hands away. Eventually Kyle's sketchbook falls open to a drawing of a woman. It was titled, "Soranik" with a small heart next to it.

"Ooh! Who's this?" Sam practically squeals, snatching up the sketchbook. Ticked off, Kyle creates a construct hand to take it back. "No one." Inside, Kyle ridiculed himself for letting a kid get the better of him. He was supposed to be good with kids, but Sam was a special case of hyperactivity.

"You still gotta teach me how to draw."

"I will. Just not _now._" Kyle hisses.

Sam huffs, _well if that's going to be the case… _

"Was that your alien GF?"

Kyle grits his teeth, he was slow to anger, but his heart wrench was worth this.

Seeing this, Sam decides to back off. "Sorry… um… thanks for the intel. I think I'll go find my dad. Nice seeing you Kyle."

"Hey wait, you still didn't tell me why you were here. What's going on?" Kyle asks, his face easing back to its normal calmness.

"Like I said, someone will debrief you." Sam says, turning on his heal. "_Hopefully. _Anyway, if you hear about any more mysterious items, phone in my dad 'kay?"

"... 'kay?"

"Bye!" Sam waves and heads back from whence he came. He'd love to see the look on Hal's face when he comes back with useful information.


	7. Chapter 7

When Hal brought Richard to meet the Guardians, Richard couldn't help but utter a small _"Yikes." _under his breath upon seeing their appearance. The Nova Prime was used to seeing aliens of different races, but yeesh, these guys were literally Smurfs.

Hal flies over with him on the platform. The platform was surrounded by tall stands that the Guardians inhabit. They almost seem to be leering down at them.

"This is Hal Jordan requesting audience. As you probably know, this is Richard Rider of the _Nova Corps._" when Hal said the name of Richard's alignments it was almost as if he were questioning the Guardians of its existence.

"Proceed." says Ganthet, who is arguably the nicest of the blue people. Perhaps he could even compete with Sayd.

Hal exchanges a glance with Richard, his eyes seemingly to plea: _well you can explain this a helluva lot better than I can so be my guest. _

Richard dips his head in understanding and takes off his Nova helmet. "Well uh… your honor? We'll go with that." he starts with, practically stumbling over his words like a baffling buffoon in front of these all-knowing beings. He lifts his sunken eyes to the Guardians and takes a deep breath.

"I have notions to believe that the state of the universe is now has been of two compositions. One where I come from, and one where you all belong." Richard explains, trying so hard not to make a reference to The Matrix right now.

"You see… things are overlapping, being replaced, being twisted, and there's one thing I know for sure… _it isn't right. _Luckily I was spared. How? I don't know. It must have something to do with my helmet… and the Worldmind."

Richard pauses to see if they are still following.

The Guardians don't rip their eyes off of him, looking at him, judging him. Suddenly Richard feels very small, but he was a Nova dammit! He wasn't going to let that bother him!

The one named Sayd taps her chin. "We have been keeping track of odd anomalies."

"Yes." Ganthet chimes in. "Such as strange surges of new power among the other Corps."

It was Hal's turn to add in his two cents. "What? When were you planning on telling us _that_?"

"We didn't have enough information to bestow." Ganthet explains.

Hal shuts up, but he wasn't pleased with this answer.

Richard cocks his head. "What kind of things may I ask?"

"We have reason to believe that the Red Lanterns, Agent Orange, the Sinestro Corps, the Blue Lanterns, and the Indigo Tribe each have gotten a boost to their rings from some kind of power stones." Sayd elaborates.

_Power stones? _Richard blinks, gulping the fast forming lump in his throat. "Infinity gems?"

Hal looks at Richard with the slightest bit of awe. "You know what these are?"

"Yes. I am all _too_ familiar with them." Richard remarks. Hal could've sworn he saw the flicker of rolling eyes.

"You see there's six: mind, reality, power, space, time, and soul." Richard recalls the Infinity Stones on his hand. "But uh, I could've sworn you named only five groups?"

"That is correct." Sayd reassures. "Though, we have no idea which one has what."

_"So much for all knowing." _Hal mutters under his breath just loud enough for Richard to hear. Richard liked Hal's attitude, that right there was a man he could vibe with.

"Although," Ganthet adds, drawing up attention of the two men, "we believe to have acquired one of our own. We tried to contain it but it keeps warping out into open space."

"Space you say?" Richard taps his chin inquisitively. "Well I'd say that would be the space stone."

_Hey, wait a minute. _Richard hatched an idea in the nest of his brain. "I know that if you bring these stones all together, one can achieve great power."

"Are you suggesting that we use them to separate the multiverse?" Ganthet asks.

"Yessir! We just need to get them from these other Corps you talked about."

Hal crinkles his nose in distaste. "Won't be easy."

"Well how about this, we get the space stone and use it to track down the others, _after _we find Sam's helmet. _Then _we use the space stone to find the power stone and use that to, y'know, power the Nova helmets." Richard offers.

"You've got it all figured out spaceman." Hal remarks, quite impressed with Richard's intuition.

"Heh." Richard pretends to buffer out his chest plate, "It comes with the experience."

Hal looks to the Guardians, asking for their permission. "What do you think of this?"

For a brief moment they discuss the matter amongst each other before Sayd speaks for all of them. "We recognize this as an important task to set things right and we authorize this mission."

"Good," says Hal, "because if you said no we'll do it anyway."

"Right on!" Richard agrees.

Ignoring their rather… intuitive human behavior, Ganthet floats down to them to show them the space stone's location. Once again, Hal constructs a tether around Richard for him to be able to follow in flight.

"Wait a second." Hal interjects before they go into the hub once more that day. "Have to find my son before he gets lost."

Ganthet turns to the Green Lantern half disappointed and half bemused. "Good graces Lantern Jordan, you brought a child here?"

"Yeah well, long story short, Sam is apart of this conundrum too." Hal replies in a voice that feigns restlessness.

"Do you think he's by where the blonde elf looking chick is acting all annoyed?" Richard offers, pointing at his observation. He didn't see Sam, but assumed he caused this.

"Who Arisia-" Hal looks over as they come into view and indeed, there is Sam apologizing for running right into Arisia (or the blonde elf looking chick as Richard described her.) Hal sighs, "Yeah that's him alright."

"Look I said I was sorry?" Sam pleas.

"And I said that it's okay! What more do you want from me?" Arisia protests, throwing her hands up in defeat.

"I know when I girl says that, things are definitely not okay!"

Arisia face palms. She wasn't getting through to this kid. When Hal approached with Richard and Ganthet she lit up with relief. "Oh thank goodness Hal, your kid is a real sweetie, nice to meet him and all but I gotta go!"

Arisia grabs Sam by the shoulders and practically forks him over before dipping. Pretty soon she was a twinkle of green light in the distance.

"Well she was nice." Sam comments before looking over at Ganthet. "Who's this?"

"This is one of the Guardians." Hal explains, "Ganthet this is my son Sam."

Ganthet dips his large head in greeting.

"He's told us that there-"

"Wait before you continue," Sam intervenes, trying to fit in the information be gained from Kyle. "I found out that there-"

"-are stones from Richard's universe floating around somewhere and that the other Corps have them." Hal finished anyway, causing Sam to groan.

"Wait what, _stones?"_

It wasn't the exact thing Sam had found out about. "Kyle told me that the Blue Lanterns had the Eye of Agameme."

"Agamotto." Richard corrects. The Eye of Agamotto belonged to Doctor Strange. "They have the time stone."

Sam nods, "Yeah- that. Kyle also told me that he thought that some things were weird too. Specifically with things from Richard's universe. I mean he doesn't know about Richard of course, but he did feel that these things were otherworldly and didn't fit."

"Great." Richard smiles ruefully. "I'm not the only one."

Sam totters on his feet and swings his arms, trying to tenseness off the conversation. "To be honest, I've been feeling the same way sometimes…"

Hal frowns. Now he understood Sam's little episodes of dourness. He didn't like that one bit.

"That's all fine and good to know, but wouldn't you all like to see the space stone?" Ganthet remarks, reminding them of their task. They all nod as Richard fills Sam in on the Infinity Stones. He mentioned Thanos' name, sparking Sam's interest further and was about to get into it but there they were: in front of the Book of Oa.

The Book of Oa was ginormous, two average height Earthling males in height, and about five to six in length. The Book recorded everything in Green Lantern history, and sometimes even the future as well. But this was not what they came here for.

Floating around the Book was the space stone, standing out against the almost neon green sheen of everything. The space stone was a deep evergreen, circling around the Book like an electron would around a nucleus.

"Well well well." Richard remarks, placing his hands on his hips. "It's so good to see you beautiful. Come to daddy." His eyes follows the space stone's path.

"I got it." Hal creates a construct hand to grab the stone and bring it over. Multiple times it warped out of the construct hand's grip before Hal angrily shoves it into Richard's own hands. "There. Don't lose it."

Richard brings the space stone close to his face and grins. "There's no way this baby is getting out of my sight."


	8. Chapter 8

"So Richard, how did you say we can use this… _space stone?" _Sam asks, watching as Richard holds the said stone. He could've sworn that the man was about to kiss it or something. Richard was ecstatic.

"This one can track every other stone, makes it a nice piece of cake." Richard explains, "Again, there's six."

Well, Sam actually didn't get to hear that part so Richard was just reminding Hal. Sam would have to play knowledge catch up if he wanted to understand anything.

Quickly and unexpectedly, Richard places the space stone in the palm of Sam's hand. It was just big enough that he could curl his fingers around it like an oval shaped baseball. "Here Sam, I want you to concentrate on your Nova helmet." Richard instructs. He wanted to see how Sam's memory would test, mostly for his own sake. He didn't want to be the only one who remembered their past lives.

Sam's brows knit together as he tries to picture the helmet. It was black and semi different in shape when compared to Richard's own helmet. Just focusing on it made his synapses click. He could see it… it was-

"Do you see where it is?" Richard asks, breaking Sam out of his train of thought.

Sam groans, "I was just _about_ to, no thanks to you."

Richard gives a sheepish grin, "Er, sorry."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sam puts his hands in the air as if he were summoning an apparition, gaining the sight back. "I saw it in the Hall of Justice!"

"The what?"

"The Hall of Justice, a pseudo museum, slash meeting place for Justice Leaguers." Hal explains to Richard. "Have you… not been on Earth at all?"

Richard shakes his head, awkwardly running the back of his neck. "Well… I've been trying to find friends of mine who really didn't live on Earth as I knew them. But I uh, at least know what the Justice League is."

"There's like… a lot of them." Sam adds.

"Justice League of America, Justice Society, Justice League Dark…" Hal adds as well, not helping. He lists each one on his hand.

Richard rolls his eyes, beginning to grow fed up. "Okay, okay! Let's go to this, _'Hall of Justice'_ and snatch up the black ops Nova helmet, alright?"

Hal readily constructs a bubble around the other two, preparing for travel.

"Oh great…" Sam could already feel his stomach lurching.

"Oh great what?" Richard asks, tapping the construct curiously. What came next caught him off guard. Hal was definitely not going to miss the chance to spite somebody for fun and games, even if his son had to be thrown into the mix too. He bolted up into the air, knocking them up off of their feet and onto their rear ends.

"Oh." Richard mumbles, "That's what. You're a real funny guy Hal Jordan."

Hal grins wholeheartedly. "Yeah, so I've been told. But seriously, we're going to go _really _fast to Earth."

Richard shrugs and gets comfortable. "I'm used to it, full speed ahead." he commands.

"Aye aye." Hal plays along, following instructions to go full speed.

Sam on the other hand was _not_ used to this and sat tight for a little while. When he gets thay Nova helmet he will definitely not miss this.

They were off, and in a matter of time they were on location. The grandeur that was the Hall of Justice loomed ahead of them. It was rather impressive in Richard's eyes, but he's seen better. The man's been places. But for Sam, this was like a class field trip. Oa was amazing, and extremely surreal, but the HoJ had its own kind of charm on the boy.

Once Hal set them down on the steps, he went ahead and gained access indoors. One of the perks of being a Leaguer.

Immediately they were met with a large array of statues and artifacts from the various heroes that has saved the world countless times. And much to Richard's surprise, he even spotted some things that were sporting Avenger's logos and artifacts. From what he could gather, the Avengers were a subdivision of the Justice League (the JL itself being an umbrella team.) The original members of the Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Antman, Wasp, Hulk, and Hawkeye had earned their spots right next to the founding members of the Justice League. That being Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern.

Of course, no one could forget Captain America or the Captain Marvels either.

On a grander scale, it was hard to see the damage that was done.

"Like what you see?" Hal asks, breaking Richard out of his thoughts.

Richard blinks, "Er, yeah! It's stellar! I just can't believe the universe decided to abscond the Nova Corps when I see all this happening!"

And well, other instances of Spider-Man no longer living in New York, and Catwoman no longer existing, but still.

"The universe likes to play sick pranks." Sam advises good-naturedly.

Hal didn't know where he got this from, and was about to inquire about it, but ended up saying nothing of the matter.

"But clearly, if my helmet and you are still here, then that _must_ mean something!" The boy continues, getting a look around. There were so many things he wanted to touch… Batman's cape… many of Iron Man's suit of armor… it was like a toy store for superheroes in the HoJ. The same could apply for supervillains as well.

The two men watch as Sam wanders before Hal gives a warning. "Remember son, we're here for something specific."

"Yeah dad, I know." Sam muses, eyeing Stormbreaker hungrily.

Hal sighs, face palming. "Kids…"

Richard nods in agreement, before heading a separate way to investigate. That just left Hal and Sam.

Hal was trying to scan for something that was emitting unique energies with his ring, but that could apply to many things in this room from Nth Metal to Pym Particles. He absentmindedly let Sam lead the way, while trying to pinpoint on the helmet's energy.

"Hm… if I were a helmet where would I-" before Sam could finish that thought, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. "Um, dad, how many people come here on a daily?"

"Not many." Hal answers, his voice sounding farther away than he actually was. "Why?"

Sam scans the wing with his eyes, "I think that I saw something."

Now that got the Green Lantern's full attention. Hal curls his ring bearing hand into a fist, flaring his green light. "Alright, step into my light where I can see you." he says, and there was a small sound of movement.

"Warned ya."

Hal floods the room with light, shining it on a figure of a woman. The woman's stiffens and uses her arm to shield her face of the brightness. In her other arm was Sam's helmet.

"Hey!" Sam exclaims, "That's mine, where do you think you're going with that?"

The woman growls and draws a sword. "You would think wisely not to ask those words to the most dangerous woman in the universe.

"The what-"

She flips closer to reveal herself some more. The lady was quite beautiful in a green alien sense. She had yellow circles around her eyes, and purple ombre hair. She was prepared to fight Hal, recognizing the Green Lantern ring.

Hal creates a construct sword, and lucky for him, he didn't even have to know how to wield it. The willpower took care of that part.

Sam puts his hands up in immediate defeat. "Guys I'm sure that we could work something out."

"You want this helmet?" asks the woman.

"Well yeah-"

"Then we cannot come to an agreement." she makes the first move, aiming a blow to Hal's shoulder.

Hal moves quickly out of the way, only making strikes at the woman's sword. He didn't want RL injure her. "Most dangerous woman in the universe you say? How did you get in here?" he asks.

The woman parries, trying to push Hal out of the room. "I already had access."

"She's a Leaguer?" Sam pipes up. He had moved across the room, making himself useful by being out of the way.

"You could say that." The woman smirked.

She and Hal continue to fight, which earned Hal several nicks on his body. The ring continuously heals him, but they just keep coming. Hal keeps trying to push her back to the far corner of the room to trap her, but the woman was smarter than that. She propped her boot against his abdomen and shoves him back, causing him to stumble into a table.

In the thick of it, Richard comes bursting in, having heard all of the commotion.

_"Gamora?"_

"What? Who-" Gamora temporarily loses her focus and Hal gets the better of her. He constructs a tight cage around her to keep her I place.

"You know this chick?" Hal asks Richard, raising a questioning brow.

"Yeah! We have a lot of history together-"

"That's strange because I no naught of this… who is this a hobo?" Gamora asks, looking Richard up and down.

Richard groans, Gamora must not even remember anymore. Who knows what her new life was like.

In the scuffle, Hal had managed to snag the Nova helmet, and tosses it Sam. "Say… _Gamora, _what did you want with this thing anyway?"

"My father Darkseid wanted to get his hands on it, and I thought it would be in safe hands with me." Gamora answers.

_Of course. _Whoever this Darkseid was- for Richard did not know that much, he only heard whisperings of his name- had to have replaced Thanos.

"I see…" Hal dips his head, "Darkseid is a big issue but I'm afraid we have an even bigger one at hand."

Gamora gives them all questioning looks because _what could be bigger than Darkseid?_

"Well Richard could debrief you." Sam states suddenly, cradling the helmet in his hands. "Imma finally put this baby on!"

Growing excited, Sam's hands begin to tremble. He was literally dreaming of this moment for ages.

He cherishes the moment, slowly placing it on his head as everyone watched and began to feel the power course through his veins like electricity.

_"I… am… NOVA!"_


	9. Chapter 9

Suddenly it all came back to Sam in the form of a blinding light.

The Nova Corps, the Champions, teaming with Beta Ray Bill, Cosmo in a space suit… and yet, there was still a hole in his memories and he couldn't quite place it.

The black ops Nova helmet returned his memories of once being Nova, but it never regaled upon him who his parents really were.

Speaking of parents, Hal turned his attention to his son, growing worried as to what the helmet was doing to Sam. The boy shook and shuddered as the memories that once held a place in his head as dreams came into fruition.

The black ops armor appears around Sam, marking the end of the transformation.

"Sam…?" Hal inquires, reaching a hand toward his boy.

Sam pauses and looks at his hands as a wide smile spreads across his face. "Wow… that was… _awesome!"_

Hal visibly sags with relief. It was a good sign that Sam was able to give a positive audible reaction. Hal's eyes wash over this new visage of Sam, cool and calculating (it took a lot to not go overly fatherly and inspect Sam's well being in front of everyone.) The armor around Sam was different in variation to Richard's, which should've been obvious because their helmets were different. It was sleek and black with the three circled symbol on the chest signifying the wearer's high stature. To Hal it looked a bit much for a small teenager, but what can anyone do about it? At least it'll protect him.

"Well." Gamora cuts in, breaking the silence. Everyone forgot she was still there, gripping that bars of Hal's makeshift cage. "This has been quite the experience," she continues, raising a subtle brow on her pretty green face.

"Indeed." Hal agrees as he casts a sidelong glance at her. "Now that the helmet is clearly in our possession, what're you going to do now?"

The Green Lantern's stare goaded the woman to even dare _attempt _to get the helmet off of Sam, and _so _help her if she tries to hurt him.

Gamora glances between the two men and the boy with the helmet and considers the situation. The frown she wore slowly turned into an expression of bargaining. "Alright, I suppose that if Darkseid doesn't have it, my mission is complete. I won't try to take it from you, but it that ends up in the wrong hands, that's on you. I may have to kill that person and come for you next." Gamora proclaims with a cold air.

_Yeesh. _

"But," Gamora raises her hands in self defense with her weapon laid down. "as I said, I won't try to take it from you, let alone hurt you right now. So let me go."

Hal opens his mouth to protest, warning him a look from Richard. "I trust her." Richard states, "If Gamora is laying down her weapon, she means it. Well- she means it because she knows we're the good guys."

Hal narrows his eyes with discontent, "Oh really? That's very reassuring. How do you know her

again?"

"Doesn't matter." Richard strides over to Gamora in the construct cage. "My friend and I are letting you go. I know you have good intentions, don't ask why, but I do. This kid right here-" he points over to Sam, "- is going to take real good care of that helmet, y'hear?"

Gamora slowly nods in understanding. "I hear."

"Good." Richard smiles and taps the construct, "Free this bird Hal, we've got more pressing matters to attend to. She's one of us."

Begrudgingly, Hal obliges and frees Gamora who gives a small grateful glance. She'd never say it out loud but she was rather disappointed to have been caged in a battle. Guess she'll have to blame it on the strange Nova who somehow knows her name. Yeah, that's it. Perhaps she'll get to beat Green Lantern another day.

Gamora picks up her sword and walks with her chin held up high towards the exit. "Here's to hoping the next time we meet will be under better light." she says with a simple wave of her hand and in a few more steps she was gone, shrouded in the darkness that was the Hall of Justice.

"Wow…" Sam chimes, still wearing a goofy grin. "That was epic! Yo, I remember who she is! And how she wielded that sword… _awesome! _You really came in clutch with that cage dad?"

Richard furrows his brows, "Wait, hold up- you say you remember her?"

"Yeah!" Sam exclaims, "She's the one who delivered the helmet to me, she and that raccoon! What's his name… Rocket?"

Richard lets out one chuckle with pure glee. _They were making progress! _

"I find it very hard to forget Rocket." Richard jokes with a lopsided smile.

And of course, feeling left out in this conversation, Hal clears his throat.

"Oh, right." Richard composes himself. "Now that we have Sam's helmet, we need to retrieve the power stone. And with this little baby here-" he pulls out the space stone, "We can figure out just where it is."

Richard visualizes the power stone, it was purple and sometimes it could grow to a larger size. He remembered back when things were normal, Drax the Destroyer had promptly dropped it off with the Nova Corps and the little stone had grown to be a large wall of a rock that provided the corpsmen with extra power.

He concentrated on everything he had to get the space stone to transport them to where they need to go (this time because the stones were linked, rather than have the stone teleport them straight to Sam's helmet.)

But as he stood there with an expression that looked more like constipation, Hal and Sam stared at him like he had no idea what he was doing.

"Uh… you good there Rich?" Sam asks with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah, just hunky dory, give me a second."

"You don't _look_ hunky dory." Sam points out, "What's the hold up?"

Richard sighs in defeat and rolls his head back to face the ceiling. "I don't know, like- I _see_ the power stone, but I guess wherever it is is someplace unfamiliar to me. It's like the stone wants to go there, but something is stopping it."

"I'm fairly well versed on locations, how about I give it a try?" Hal offers, holding out his hand

As soon as Richard plopped the stone in Hal's hand, the stone filled in the empty gaps of Richard's knowledge with Hal's when they were both touching it at the same time.

The two men and the boy were teleported right where they needed to be, on a planet only Hal recognized.

Sam nearly doubled over from the teleportation, "Ah geez… wha-? Where are we?"

Hal glances around at the indigo tinged foliage and dark sky and soil. "This… this is planet Nok."

"What's a knock?" Richard asks with a puzzling expression.

_"Nok." _Hal reinforces, just knowing that Richard confused it. "Nok is home to the Indigo Tribe. The reason why the stone didn't react when Richard used it, is because Nok isn't identified on any maps. Not even a Lantern ring could locate it."

"Say dad, I forget, are the Indigo Lanterns nice or what?"

To answer Sam's question, there were several rustlings in the foliage and voices to follow. They all spoke in an untranslatable language that not even a Green Lantern ring could identify.

"Yeah… that's a hard maybe."


	10. Chapter 10

From the foliage appears the slender figure of Indigo-1, the Lantern head of the Indigo Tribe. She holds an accusing staff towards the three males in the middle of the clearing.

"Jordan." Indigo-1 greets coldly. Despite being filled to the brim with compassion, Indigo Lanterns tended to be scarce of a real personality. They were mysterious in nature like that.

"Hello Iroque." Hal greets in return, putting his hands up in silent surrender. "There's no need for all of this, we're all good guys here."

Indigo-1 steps back but she doesn put down her staff, "Based on your last visit, I take it that there's nothing but trouble awaiting your actions." she accuses, staring down at him with black coals for eyes.

Hal approaches the subject carefully, Indigo Lanterns were good people but if you cross them the wrong way, you were sure to regret it. "That was Black Hand Iroque." Hal interjects, "You're a nice lady, surely you could help my friend and I."

_"Friend." _Indigo-1 echoes as she glances at Richard Rider who gives a sheepish grin and a wave.

"Then who is this?" she asks, then looking at Sam.

"Hullo. The name's… _Nova-_ Hal's my dad." Sam had decided then and there to start going by his hero name. It made him feel %100 percent cooler and %100 percent not scared. _Totally. _

"I'm also Nova by the way." Richard butts in, lest anyone forget it.

Indigo-1 ignores Richard and proceeds to approach Sam. "Ah, the offspring of Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris. You have a lot to live up to little one."

Sam fights the urge to squirm in Indigo-1's presence. The purple alien woman had a way of making someone feel small. She held herself like a Royal, perfectly poised with a blank expression. Sam had no idea what this woman had been through but he couldn't help but respect her.

"Um yeah, _so much to live up to_." Sam mutters as he rubs his arm. He sighs and then looks up to the woman. "Listen, we have a pretty huge predicament here and we are pretty sure you can help us."

Indigo-1's eyes flicker with interest. It was in her very nature to help people. "Then I am fairly sure we can. What is it my child?" she asks.

"Well…" Sam motions towards Richard who would happily explain the situation for the millionth time that day.

"I see." Indigo-1 dips her head and orders her people to stand back. "You wish to have our purple stone to restore your power. Then you wish to keep it to restore your world."

Richard lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding and allows himself a small smile. "Yes… you understand."

"I do."

"Well?" Richard inquires.

Indigo-1 turns her back on them and consults her Indigo-2 in their native tongue. They occasionally look back at Richard to study him.

Soon she fully turns back towards them and beckons for them to follow. "Come, we will show you the way."

The Indigo Tribe leads them through the dense purple forest, careful to have Indigo Lanterns take up the back. They couldn't be _too_ trusting after all.

They continue on for a bit until they approach a cathedral looking building. If Sam had to describe it, it would closely resemble something out of Disney. But rather than a princess castle, it would be more befitting for Maleficent to hunker down and chill there. For a group of people all of compassion, there was a serious lack of puppy dogs and rainbows.

The traveling trio was led inside and instinctively, Hal kept by Sam's side. He could feel the anticipation wafting off of him. This was all new and exciting for the boy and this was just the tip of the iceberg. Hal recalled a similar feeling when he received his Lantern ring from Abin Sur- more so a delayed reaction because he was in shock and disbelief. Sam on the other hand was well attuned to oddities and the fact that both of his parents were superheroes. Only now he was getting his turn.

Last time Hal was in this building, he was behind bars with a "compassion filled" Black Hand leering at him from the other side. The whole place had bad vibes all around and something about the situation made Hal's gut churn.

Indigo-1 brings them into an open room that much resembled one fit for kings and queens. A single throne resided on the far side of the room. It was meant for Indigo-1 herself, seeing as she was the head Lantern here. It was made from the dark wood the trees on Nok provided. Perfectly polished and absolutely menacing.

Other than that, the Indigo Lanterns seem to regard Sam with a slight bit of warmth. It must be because he was merely a child and children were positively brimming with compassion. He could do no wrong in their eyes, nothing that could be entirely his fault.

Indigo-1 tells them to wait as she sends other Lanterns to fetch the power stone for them. The silence stretches on as she seems fixated on Richard Rider.

"You, Nova." she prompts, causing Richard to awkwardly lock gazes with her dark eyes.

"Yes?"

Indigo-1 seems to be staring right through him, eating at his discomfort. "You seemed troubled."

Richard rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, "Well when the word needs saving-"

Indigo-1 cuts him off. "Are you entirely sure that you were a hero where you come from?"

Appalled by the question, Richard shifts his weight awkwardly. "Why yes, the Nova Corps is highly regarded as-"

"I mean you Nova, as an individual." Indigo-1 reiterates.

"Of course. I have done a lot of good in my day." Richard answers, standing his ground. _How dare she question his heroship?_

Indigo-1 studies his once over from head to toe. "I sense a scarce amount of compassion in you Richard Rider."

_"What-?"_ Richard squints his eyes, words catching in his throat. First of all, no one had told her his name and second of all, _what?_

"I only see some reserved for the boy, the other Nova." She flicks a slender hand towards Sam who stood stiffly with his arms at his sides.

Suddenly, two Indigo Lanterns grab at Richard's arms and bind him, rendering him unable to move. Hal steps up and throws Indigo-1 an accusing look.

"Hey, what's going on here? I thought you were just going to let us by?" the Green Lantern asks, preparing for a scuffle. Sam also gets ready by bearing fists, albeit a bit awkwardly since he was still very new to fighting.

"I told you that we were giving you the stone, and we are. I don't lie Jordan." Indigo-1 states calmly, keeping hold on the situation. Not once does she falter.

Richard tossed his head back and groaned in response. "Oh I am _so _not getting thrown into another prison." he retorts. "Not again, and _not_ like this."

"Take him away." Indigo-1 instructs.

Hal sweat drops and attempts to be the voice of reason. Avoiding a fight with the Indigo Lanterns would be the smartest approach.

"Iroque, I'm sure that we can-"

Sam interjects as Nova Force power flickers in the palms of his hands. "We're not going to have that!" He shoots a blast of energy that causes Indigo-1 to fly back. The rest of the purple clad Lanterns tighten their circle around them, bearing their weapons.

"Sam!"

Sam flinches at his father's yell, physically recoiling his elbows to his torso. "Uh… I guess I shouldn't have done that."

_"Nah,"_ Richard snarks sarcastically as he begins to be pulled away, "that was the best idea you had yet." The Nova Prime groans and tears out from the grip holding him. He delivers a swift punch in the jaw to the first one and a backhand towards the second one. "Well it's too late now kid!" he calls out, "Keep blasting them!"

Sam obliges and keeps hitting random Indigo Lanterns with what he got. So far, it was the only thing he knew how to do. He couldn't fly nor generate more powerful attacks. For now, he was left blundering with his father flanking his side.

Hal makes sure that Sam doesn't get hit with any Indigo light because if anything is harmed on that boy, Carol was going to kill him.

"Alright Sam, I want you to listen to me and listen to me good." Hal instructs in a raised tone to be heard above the action.

"Yeah dad?" Sam squints, trying to keep the bright flash of the constant blasting out of his eyes.

"I want you to fly above all of them and locate that stone, okay?"

Sam's blood nearly freezes. "But dad-" the boy protests, "I can't!"

Hal wins his head around to look at him. "Yes you _can!"_ he barks. There was no room for insecurities right at the moment. "When there's a will, there's a way."

_"Easy for you to say."_ Sam mumbles as he tosses a careless energy blast. "You're the greatest Green Lantern there ever was."

For a moment, Hal's eyes soften. "Sammy, you can do anything you set your mind to do."

"Hate to break the tender moment guys, but I'm starting to get tired. I don't exactly have my powers right about now and having that power stone would be really nice." Richard complains above the riot, interrupting their moment.

Hal dips his head, "Right. Now fly my son, fly."

Sam breathes in deeply.

_Should be easy enough right?_ If Sam knew anything about being a Jordan was that they could do anything, and flying was just something they all loved. It should come easy to him.

Before he knows it, he's soaring with his heart elating with glee and purpose.

"Now go!"

Clenching his fist in anticipation, Sam blasts off, evading any Indigo Lanterns in pursuit.


	11. Chapter 11

The human rocket flew fast and high, hooting with the power it made him feel. Indigo Lanterns were on his tail, using light constructs to try and catch him. But Sam zigged and he zagged to evade his assailants.

"Wow I am so good at- _eep!"_ Sam yelps as an Indigo construct chain latches onto his ankle and begins to pull him back. He swerves towards the stone floor below but he wasn't going to let that be the end of him.

Boosting up his speed, Sam veers around a sharp corner and causes his assailant to slam into the wall. The chain construct evaporates and soon his leg is free. "That's one point for Nova and zero points for the Indigo Tribe!" Sam quips, giving a small wave to the poor sap who tried to yank him. He puts his focus back on the environment in front of him and navigates through as many rooms as he could. Though, after a while of not finding it, Sam began to give up.

"Come on, come on… if I were a power stone, where would I hide?" Sam asks himself before coming to a screeching halt. If he were a power stone in someone's possession, he wouldn't be in some random room. If the Indigo Lanterns were smart, they wouldn't even keep it in a heavily guarded room. "That's it!" Sam begins to make a hasty backtrack towards where he started. Of course, Indigo Lanterns were still on him, but this time he was coming straight _toward _them. So, Sam braced his arms into an "X" shape and plowed through them like bowling pins.

"Dad!" Sam shouts as he makes it back into the throne room.

"Sam!"

Hal throws aside an Indigo Lantern with a construct hand and looks towards his son expectantly. "Did you get it? Did you get the stone?" he asks, expecting for a positive answer. But just as Sam shook his head, his heart sunk.

"Dad, it's in her staff!" Sam informs, pointing to where Indigo-1 was chaining up Richard with her light constructs.

Hal raises a brow, "What?"

"Trust me!" Sam locks eyes with his father and dips his head. "I'm going to get it."

"Sam wait-!" Hal begins to protest. Indigo-1 was a very powerful Lantern. Even if she had a soft spot for children, there's no telling what'll happen to Sam if he gets in her crossfire. But this was his moment. Sam's adventure had just begun and he was going to prove his worth.

"Just trust me!" Sam reassured as he charged himself up for an attack. He zooms over with the intent of snatching up Indigo-1's staff and getting it far enough from her so she can't use it. "Richard, get ready!" Sam calls out as he gets close enough. The boy successfully knocks the staff out of her hands which make the constructs to dissipate, essentially freeing Richard. Sam grabs the staff before it could clatter onto the floor with a triumphant grin. "I got it, I got-"

Indigo-1 holds out her palm and begins to call the staff back to her. Unlike most Lanterns, she kept her ring inside the space in her staff, enabling her to call for it whenever she wanted to. Just one problem though. It came with a teenager attached. Sam fought against the pull, tightening his grip around the staff. He jostled it every which way and every which way he made no progress. But good old Richard Rider came in for the save.

Holding a loose stone in the grip of his hand, Richard striked Indigo-1 across the back of her head. This caused her to lose focus and thus, letting Sam have the staff. The woman doubles over and rests on her knees as Sam dug for the power stone in the staff's crevice. He also happens to brush against Indigo-1's power ring but decides not to meddle.

"Aha!" Sam explaims as his hand curves around the familiar shape. "Heads up Rider, incoming!" He throws the power stone in Richard's direction and the man reaches up to receive it.

Almost instantly Richard crackled with energy as he filled up with the Nova force once more. The Nova Prime makes no haste and flies up into the air with his regained ability. "Yes! Finally! No more playing around…" He charges up powerful energy attacks that send Indigo Lanterns flying. "C'mon fellas! We've got what we came for so let's blow this grape flavored popsicle stand!"

Sam gives Richard a questioning look. "Grape flavored? Really?"

"Shut up and let's go." Richard instructs, blazing away a path. He's got the space stone so all they need to do is get out of there. Or else, they'll be teleporting with a bunch of disgruntled Indigo Lanterns.

Hal and Sam follow his lead with the Green Lantern covering the back. He pushes any stragglers behind with a construct snowmobile until it appears they were no longer being followed.

"I wonder what they wanted with you." Hal peruses as the group begins to slow down. He directed the statement towards Richard but he got nothing in response. "I mean, Indigo Lanterns only want to correct the morally black or grey so to speak." Hal continues. "If we pictured morality as black and white."

"Well isn't that strange?" Richard remarks. "I don't really know what that has to do with me." He turns away and brings out the space stone to use it.

"Are you safe for my boy to be around?" Hal asks bluntly, his eyes boring into the back of Richard's helmet.

"Dad!" Sam protests. They've been through this before when they first picked up Richard. "We can't right now! We have other stones to collect!"

Hal sighs. "Alright, but I'm warning you Richards. If I find out-"

_"Please." _Richard cranes his head back to look at Hal. "Sometimes you have to do dirty work to be the hero. At least where I'm from, that's how things work. You can't tell me that isn't exactly how you operate either." The Nova Prime generally kept the specifics to himself but he knew he wasn't a bad guy. Nor was he an anti-hero or whatever the kids were calling it these days.

Hal runs a shamed hand through his hair. "You're right. Where are we going next?"

"I remember Kyle telling me that the Blue Lanterns have the Eye of Agameme." Sam supplies, eager to be of some help.

_"Agamotto." _Richard corrects. "And you're right, that's what keeps the time stone."

"Off to see Saint Walker it is." Sam says as his stomach gives a loud growl. "Possibly after we eat something. Yeesh, how long has it been?"

Sam longed for a rest despite his excitement to keep going. The space stone must've felt Sam's longing too because it teleports from Richard's palm into his. "Hey, what d'you suppose this means?" Sam inquires. In response the stone takes the three of them to the place Sam's subconscious was thinking of.

_Home. _

The two men and the boy get sporadically 'ported into the living room of the Jordan house. It was midday in Coast City and much to Carol's surprise, it was not when she was expecting her husband and son to return. To her they've been gone for about two days and when she heard that Sam hadn't eaten for about a whole day, she gave Hal an earful and began to prepare a meal.

"Well I certainly wasn't expecting this." Richard remarks, taking off his helmet so he could politely greet Carol. "Richard." he says, holding out a hand.

Carol shook his hand before going to wash it. No need to contaminate the food with space bacteria. "Carol."

"Danvers?"

Carol softly shakes her head and dries her hand on a towel. "Ferris. Ferris-Jordan. Hal's my husband and Sam is my son."

_"Ohh." _Richard nods in understanding. He recalls that neither of Sam's actual parents were present in reality and had been replaced with these two. Once again, a hard lump lodges into his throat. He never thought he'd be prepared to break the news to the current Jordan household. They would be heartbroken to find out that they aren't even family at all. By the least, when everything was fixed, Hal and Carol would still have each other but Sam would be long gone with his rightful mother, and hopefully if he was lucky, his father too.

"Are you okay?" Carol asks. "You look like you need some water." She gives him a worried expression that just tugs on Richard's heartstrings even further. "Oh um, yes. I'd like that, thank you." he replies.

"Sam sweetie?"

Sam goes over to the cabinet and fetches a glass, "I got it mom."

"So…" Carol throws a glance towards her son. "Want to tell me about that new look of yours?"

Secretly, he hoped she would ask that. He smiles and turns around to show off his black ops Nova corps uniform. Then he regails upon her the entire story so far. Though she's not as surprised as any other woman would be. Carol was used to space and time shenanigans, being a Violet Lantern and all. Something still rubbed her the wrong way about it though.

"The universe overlapping, huh? I wonder what caused it." she comments as she sets some rice to cook.

Richard shrugs. "Even I don't know." The whole phenomenon was a curious case but Richard had a sort of clarity to see himself through it. Now Sam was beginning to share that clarity too. But how exactly the phenomenon was caused was a mystery to him. He doubted that Sam would know or else he'd tell him by now so they'll just have to wait. Or perhaps, they'll never know at all. Only time will tell.


	12. Chapter 12

Man was it good to sleep in his own bed, Sam thinks when he awakens that morning. It would seem that he slept pretty late because his parents and Richard were already awake having breakfast, dressed and everything. Richard in the meantime was wearing some of Hal's clothes. They were about the same size so it was hardly an issue.

"Aw geez," Sam remarks with a sigh upon seeing the adults. "You couldn't wake me up?"

"Sorry sport, you looked pretty beat. It would have been a crime to wake you up." Hal says between sips of coffee.

Sam softly shakes his head before sinking down into his reserved seat for some pancakes. He lets the subject go and instead asks about their goal for the day. "We're still going to Saint Walker?"

Hal nods and proceeds to explain. "Actually… we were thinking of splitting up. One group goes to Elpis to retrieve the time stone and the other goes to Ysmault to retrieve the mind stone."

"Your father and I would go to Ysmault and deal with Atrocitus." Carol adds as she lays a gentle hand on Hal's. "You and Mr. Rider go to Elpis. It's only fair that way, Atrocitus is no joke."

Hal and Carol put their trust in Richard Rider to look after their boy. The time stone mission was more tame and even if something happened, Richard was still a seasoned fighter. Sam could learn a lot about being Nova from shadowing the man.

Sam opened his mouth to protest that his parents got to do the "fun" mission while he got the lame one but quickly closed it. Atrocitus was one powerful guy and no one wanted to get on his bad side (if he even had a good side.) It made sense for his mother to go as well, Anger and Love were on the opposite edges of the Emotional Spectrum and countered each other fairly well.

"Sounds cool." Sam finally says, looking over to Richard. He was reading the newspaper, trying to get a grasp on the current state of the world. He settled in nice with the Jordan family that even Cosmo laid at his feet. The dog seemed familiar with Richard and Richard regarded the dog warmly. Sam remembered how he had guessed Cosmo's name without being told.

_"Cosmo! Good to see you, ya lovable pooch." _he had said. It was strange but Sam just accepted it.

"Whenever you're ready kid, we'll head off as soon as possible." Richard comments, barely lifting his eyes from the paper. Sam nods and tries to wolf down his breakfast, guzzling his orange juice. He nearly chokes once or twice but he was far too excited to get going into space again! This time he had his Nova helmet and he was truly going to feel like a superhero.

Once done, the group prepares to split off with Sam's parents giving him a heartfelt farewell. They weren't banking on death but with Atrocitus, no one could be so sure. Hal even shared a map to Elpis from his ring so that they wouldn't get lost. Even with the space stone, it only ever worked when the user had the location in mind. The information downloaded into the Nova Prime's helmet with an interesting interference. Green and blue static gently lapped around the helmet until the transition was done. _Ah well, it was time to go. _

"Goodbye Sam." Carol said as she gave Sam a kiss on the forehead. "My love will be with you." She took turns with Hal in giving him a hug.

Sam smiled brightly as his heart swelled. "Bye mom, bye dad. We'll see you with the stones, alright? You go and kick Atrocitus' butt real good." he says. He also lightly punched Hal's arm, "Tell 'im Sam sent ya."

Hal chuckles, catching Sam's fist in the air. "Easy there slugger, we'll be back before you know it."

With that, the two groups depart as Carol and Hal get a head start. They already knew where they were going and braced themselves to raise hell on Ysmault. Their civilian wear dissolved into their Lantern uniforms as they flew off, becoming green and pink sparks in the distance.

In turn, Sam and Richard put their helmets on and transformed themselves into their Nova gear.

"Time stone here we come!" Sam shouts as he fist pumped the air. He bolted upright and started to fly, eager to get going. Richard takes the lead so that Sam trailed behind. "Hold on there kid, you've never flown this high before. Let alone in space. You might want to slow down." Richard gently warns.

_"Tch," _Sam scoffs and waves his hand dismissively. "I'm pretty sure it's easy. Didn't you see me in the Indigo Lantern lair?"

"Yeah, but look at all this open space." Richard flies spirals around Sam before settling on flying in front of him once more. He faced him and had his back towards their destination. "If we were attacked right now, there would be nowhere to hide. Besides, you haven't even experienced breaking that atmosphere. They don't call Nova the human rocket for nothing."

Sam presses his lips into a thin line. Richard was right. Being inside of a bubble was way different than flying around on his own.

"Don't worry kid," Richard reassures with a smile. "I'll teach you everything there is to know." The Nova Prime was delighted to have his powers back. No longer did he have to rely on Hal Jordan to watch his back. "Lesson number one, speed. Try to keep up."

Richard bolts Superman style with a trail of blue light after him. Dumbfounded, Sam channels his inner energy and chases after him. Even if he could catch up at this point, Sam knew he couldn't get too ahead because only Richard knew where they were going.

After a while, Sam saw Richard's figure more clearly now and raced to be by his side. He was gaining on him but the forces- namely gravity- were going against him. They were about to break the atmosphere into space and once Richard made it, he waited for Sam on the other side.

A few seconds pass and Sam bursts out onto the open space. He misjudged his momentum and kept going for a while since there was very little friction to slow the boy down. Richard chuckled as Sam simply kept flying away and watched as he tried to turn back. Of course, Richard didn't let this go on for too long and eventually flew over to retrieve him.

Grabbing his ankle, both Richard and Sam came to a screeching halt (if such a noise could be heard in space.) "Easy, huh?" Richard taunts with a good-natured smile. Sam's initial panic had turned into an expression of contempt. He grumbled in mockery.

"Alright, alright. We'll take it easy now." Richard lets go of Sam's ankles and continues to fly at a reasonable pace with Sam beside him.

They continue on their way to Elpis making some small talk, one of them goes as follows:

"Say, do you know why Dick is a nickname for Richard?" Sam asked as he gave a passing glance.

Richard shrugged with a snort. "Beats me."

"Do you go by Dick? Because if so, your name would be-"

Richard cut off Sam before he finished. He twisted his face with disgust. "Don't say it." Sam then opened his mouth anyway and every time he tried to speak, Richard interjected with an inaudible noise. After a good minute of this exchange, Sam gets the better of him.

_"Dick Rider."_

At this moment Richard stopped and turned to face the immature teen. "Do you want to go home? I know where you live."

In a fit of laughter, Sam held his sides. "Sorry sorry. No, I don't want to go home. Let's just keep going."

Richard cuffed him on the back of the helmet for good measure. "Fine. But you better not start calling me that now."

Sam nods obediently and mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key.

Richard sighed and gently shook his head. "This is going to be a long trip, isn't it?"


	13. Chapter 13

Richard was right. He really had to jinx himself didn't he? Despite having to fly through space, the trip felt much longer than it actually took.

The whole way to Elpis, Sam wouldn't stop asking questions. So much for throwing away the key. Richard had forgotten how _trivial_ kids could be. Especially Sam, never underestimate Sam again, even if he doesn't remember you.

Granted, Sam did ask some genuine questions such as, "What exactly happened to the Nova Corps?" And well, for Sam's sake, Richard left out the details.

"They were destroyed." Richard replied. "And with their deaths, I became the Worldmind to keep their memories within me."

"So like a hard drive?" Sam proposes.

"If you want to call it that."

After that, silence finally came upon them but it was too late. They have already arrived to Elpis. The planet itself is a strictly blue color, not unlike the color of the corps that inhabits it. On closer inspection, even a lot of the flora had a blue hue to it.

Compared to Nok, Elpis was a light brighter. Perhaps it really was a metaphor for _hope. _

Neither Sam or Richard had been here before but the man let the kid lead for now. At least Sam had met Saint Walker in the past. Once when he was merely a baby, twice when he was a toddler, and a couple more times when he was a smaller kid.

Sam remembered the older alien being really nice and a bit of a pushover when it came to baby Sam getting what he wanted. The thought put a smile onto Sam's face as he carefully maneuvered in between terra formations. It was kinda like going to visit a grandpa's house, he thought.

Richard followed closely behind him, asking if Sam knew what he was doing.

"Of course I do." Sam replied, a tad crossly. "If I know Saint Walker, he's probably off meditating somewhere."

"But you don't know where 'somewhere' is." Richard points out.

Sam snorts in response. "Psh, have a little faith Richard. Or I guess you could say-"

"No."

"Have a little _hope." _Sam smiles widely at his own joke, much to Rider's dismay. "That was bad, and you and I both know it."

Sam's reply was delayed because he felt like he was close to finding Saint Walker. He felt a little "tug" on his soul, if you will. He assumed that Saint Walker would prefer to meditate with the local nature, presumably where water met the land.

This could be many places on Elpis, but the stars seemed to align for young Samuel's luck. Maybe it had something to do with the Blue Lantern energy, or pure luck. But the two had found just the place.

It was exactly how Sam pictured it in his mind's eye. It gave him major deja vu.

They made it to a clearing with light blue tinted grass that was framed with a cliff face. The grass turned into a sandy shore met with clear blue water that gently lapped at it. It was a serene scene, and in the middle was none other than the Saint himself. He pressed the tips of his fingers together in meditation, floating cross-legged mere inches off the ground. He seemed to have not heard Sam and Richard emerge from the foliage because he did not turn or move a muscle.

Neither wanted to break his concentration and stood there with bated breaths as the air suddenly felt heavy. They glanced at each other not knowing what to do until Saint Walker spoke.

"Ah, Samuel Jordan. I knew you were going to come here." The Saint turns to look at them with a smile, generating confusion between the two Novas.

"You did?" Sam asked as he reached under his helmet to scratch his neck.

"I did." Saint Walker replies vaguely.

"How did you know it was me? I mean it's been years and-" Sam takes off his helmet to reveal his face. "I'm wearing all this now."

Saint Walker rises to his full height and floats over to the boy with a stray comment about how much he has grown. "The hope in your heart will always betray you Samuel."

"Alright," Richard chimes in, "so I'm not sure this is a _your _universe thing…" he motions toward the other two. "But I'm pretty sure that doesn't explain how you knew we were coming."

Sam raises a brow and nods of agreement. "Yeah…"

"The impatient one is right." Saint Walker replies, dipping his head in a slight bow.

_"Impatient?"_

The Blue Lantern ignores Richard's quiet remark and proceeds to explain. "You see, we have come into possession with a strange artifact and with the help of friend Lantern Kyle, we were able to discern it as the Eye of Agamotto."

"Or the time stone, rather." Richard says.

"If that is what you wish to call it stranger."

"Richard Rider sir." Richard shakes Saint Walker's hand "Or Nova."

"I'm also Nova now!" Sam squeaks, begging a questioning glance from the light blue alien.

Richard puts his hand up, "Right but I'm _Nova Prime."_

Saint Walker blinks. "I'm not really certain of what either of that means."

Richard sighed and shook his head. "Look it's not going to matter to you anyway. Listen, may we by any chance take the time stone off your hands?" He searches the Saint's expression for some kind of OK.

"Ah yes," Saint Walker says, "I was aware you'd ask for it."

"Vague old people must be a universal constant." Richard remarks under his breath, but everybody heard it. Sam even began to laugh a little.

But of course, Saint Walker ignored it. "It was the Eye that showed me." he says, causing realization to dawn on Richard's face.

"Ah… I see."

Except, Sam did not. The boy gently shook on the Nova Prime's arm. "See? See what?"

"The time stone showed the good Saint here a glimpse of the future." he explained.

"Indeed." Saint Walker then accessed the pocket dimension in which he keeps his personal blue lantern power battery. With it he also stashed the time stone which seemed to have fed off of the hope energy because it now glowed blue. "To keep it safe from the wrong hands." Saint Walker explains as the gem floated above his palm idly. "Though, I believe that it'll be safe in your hands Samuel Jordan and Richard Rider. Because all will be well."

"You're not wondering what we plan on doing with it?" Richard asks, sensing how easy this feels compared to retrieving the power stone from the Indigo Lantern.

Saint Walker's eyes sparkled with wisdom and a knowing of what's to come and what has passed. "No need, all will be well."

Richard put his hands up in self defence. _"Okaaay… _if you say so."

Saint Walker passes on the time stone to Sam who graciously accepts it. But when the boy barely touches it, something goes awry. He cries out in shock and convulses onto the ground. Saint Walker assured Richard that he was fine with a simple scan of his ring, and informed him that his consciousness was elsewhere.

And he was right.

Sam saw the last few years of his life whiz past him, until he made it to what seems to be a critical point in his life.

He was seven once more, back at home as a youthful Cosmo laid down at his feet. Sam was aware that this wasn't quite correct, but he could do nothing to change it.

The whole experience felt like a reoccurring dream.

He was now sitting in the familiar hallways as he heard the voices of his parents from the kitchen.

_"Hal, he's been having those nightmares again."_ came the voice of his mother.

_"What nightmares?" _Hal asked.

_"Well you would know if you were here more often."_ Carol retorted.

The sound of Hal's shifting posture could be heard as he sighed. _"Carol, you know I have a job to do. I'm sorry. Look, I'll talk to him about it, okay? Maybe I can see if John and the boys can pick up work for me, okay?"_

_"Okay Hal…" _Carol replied and the edges of Sam's vision blurred.

He remembered this moment as one of the mornings his father came back after a long trip on Oa. It was true, he had been having nightmares about the Nova Corps. But he was too young to understand it.

And too young to understand that sometimes his father's work drove a wedge between his family. Samuel had cried that day, and since then Hal had always made more of an effort to be there for his wife and kid.

_But why did it still hurt as bad as it did back then?_

Sam in his younger self's body rubbed at his eyes as the memory seemed to fade away. It veered in and out of familiarity until it completely faded to black.


	14. Chapter 14

"You think Sam's doing alright?" asked Carol as she flew by her husband's side. They were heading to Ysmault to retrieve the mind stone while Sam was left with Richard Rider. The Star Sapphire was reluctant to leave her son but it was worth it compared to the boy having to face Atrocitus. Sam may have his helmet now but he was still highly inexperienced. Carol silently cursed herself for not preparing Sam for things such as this considering who she and her husband are. It's not like they kept their hero lives discrete from him. She then sighed and turned to look at Hal. He kept mostly silent and didn't answer her question.

"Hey highball, are you even listening to me?"

She prodded him in the ribs with a violet construct of a hand in which she gets her reply. "I've been thinking," said Hal. "With everything that has been happening it is hard not to believe Richard Rider. So when things go back to normal... What will happen to our family?" Even with his mask on Carol could see the crease of his eyebrows furrowing. "What's going to happen to _us?"_

Carol's gaze softened. "What exactly do you mean?" she asked.

"When I first came across Richard on Oa he kept calling Sam, Sam Alexander. When I asked him about it he said that my name was Hal Alexander and alluded to the fact that I could be dead…"

Carol tried to hide her horror, "When he talked to me he called me Carol Danvers."

Hal finally turned to look at her. "You think he's trying to spare us the truth?"

Carol softly shook her head and refused to admit it. Even if there's a chance Richard could just be confused, after all, they were all running on the two earth theory. No one could know that much. "I don't know Hal… let's just-"

"_Mmroww!"_

Hal shouts as his face gets attacked by a red and blue blur. "Ah! Dex-Starr!"

Carol sprung into action as she tried to pry the feral Red Lantern cat from him with a construct. "Atrocitus! He must have known we were coming!"

"That's an understatement sweetheart." said a feminine voice from behind Carol. The voice belonged to Bleez, another Red Lantern who was more often than not, Atrocitus' punching bag. She kept Carol busy from getting at Dex-Starr who held well on his own. Never underestimate the cat of Atrocitus, he's more dangerous than anyone thinks.

Dex-Starr clawed at Hal's eyes and spit up into them so that he was blinded. But Hal was too determined to give up that easily. Even though his vision was going red, he still fought against Dex-Starr with several constructs.

"Ah fuck! Bad kitty, someone ought to teach you a lesson!"

Hal created a construct of a spray bottle and attempted to spritz Dex-Starr with it. Meanwhile, Carol and Bleez grappled with each other.

"Give up lady and make this easier for the both of us." hissed Bleez as blood flecked Carol's face. The Red Lanterns' blood stung like hell but the two heroes were able to brave through it. Although Hal received the worst of it, his ring worked hard at trying to heal him.

"Carol are you okay?" yells Hal. His back was to her and he managed to fend off Dex-Starr for the moment. The blue cat had fluffed out his fur in contempt and hissed wildly at the construct spray bottle.

"Yeah," said Carol through gritted teeth. "A little help would be nice though."

"Just a moment-" Hal rubbed at his eyes and flung excess blood from them. He regained his composure and turned to aid his wife. He blasted Bleez in the back with a green beam, causing the woman to screech out in pain.

"Bastard!" Bleez grabbed Carol by the arm and flung her at Hal. The two stumbled backward, entangled in each other.

Quickly, Bleez and Dex-Starr surrounded them, threatening to spit up blood.

They were soon joined by a third Red Lantern, one that goes by the name of Rankorr. The fiery haired male stood between Bleez and Dex-Starr, firing up his ring. "Took you two long enough," he said with arrogance lacing his tone.

"Save it Rankorr." Bleez hissed.

Rankorr rolled his eyes, and bound Carol and Hal with Red Lantern constructs. He was the only one in the corps capable of doing so due to the sheer willpower he had. He could have been a great Green Lantern but the amount of anger this man harbored within him held him back.

"I expected more from the best the Violet and Green Lantern corps had to offer." said Rankorr snidely. Even Dex-Starr seemed to be laughing, if such a thing can be accomplished by cats.

Carol's eyes flashed pink. "What do you want, Rankorr?"

"I could ask you the same. You are dangerously close to Ysmault's orbit."

"You're right." Hal peers at Rankorr through stinging eyes. "We know you have the mind stone so why don't you cough it up."

Fear briefly flashed in Rankorr's eyes before confidence took over. "I don't know how you figured that out, but I'm sure Atrocitus is going to have a _fun _time with you lovebirds." The prospect of making his leader proud almost warmed Rankorr's heart. _Almost, _as if he had a real heart. Every Red Lantern's heart was replaced with a red construct pumping toxic blood through their veins.

He intended to take full credit and this didn't go unnoticed by Bleez and Dex-Starr.

"You barely did anything," said Bleez as she crossed her arms. "Dex-Starr and I did most of the work. You were even late."

"C'mon Bleez, you can't even make constructs. You and I both know you don't stand a chance."

The two continued to bicker like a married couple and Carol and Hal exchanged glances. They didn't need to say a word to understand each other. Given the right opportunity they could pin these Red Lanterns against each other. Despite being filled with hatred, Bleez and Rankorr harbored a sort of love for each other.

For now, Carol and Hal would have to remain their hostages.

* * *

Richard Rider repeatedly poked Sam's helmet with a stick he found. For at least ten minutes the kid has been out cold.

"Perhaps you shouldn't do that." Saint Walker offered kindly.

Richard shrugged and kept going. "What if he doesn't come to?"

"We Blue Lanterns have a way of healing." Saint Walker replied.

Richard took a step back and placed his hands on his hips. "Well?" he inquires. "Go on then."

Saint Walker pressed his fingertips together. "With the time stone's hold on him, it could be dangerous. I would need a reason to pull him out of it."

Sam began to jerk violently in response as he whined incoherently.

Richard arched a brow. "Is that reason enough?"

"... Unfortunately." Saint Walker briefly sighed and scanned Sam with his ring. "Hmm."

Richard faced the alien. _"Hmm?" _

"His vitals are all fine." said Saint Walker. "Nothing appears to be wrong."

Richard snorts and kneels by Sam's side. "Other than he's having a seizure, huh?" He shook the kid with increasing intensity. "Hey kid, you better not be getting eaten by dinosaurs in your brain or something."

_"Ugnh…" _Sam's eyes fluttered open. "Dad?"

"Not quite kid."

"Huh?" Sam sat up and took off his helmet. He looked pretty roughed up, helmet hair and all.

"Were you crying?" asked a bewildered Richard. Dealing with kids was one thing, dealing with _crying _kids is another.

Sam's eyes widened a bit as he nervously fixed his hair. "Uh… no. Psh… who's crying? You're the one who's crying." he scoffed.

_"Riiight." _Richard began to address Saint Walker. "Well this has been dandy Mister…"

"Walker."

"Right so-" Richard took the time stone from Sam's hand. "If it's alright with you, we'll be taking this."

Saint Walker dipped his head. "Be careful with it and take care Nova Prime, Samuel."

"It's Nova now." Sam corrects, placing his helmet back on with confidence.

"Of course, take care Nova." Saint Walker replied in an amused tone. "Please come and visit again, you've grown so much since the last I saw you. You're becoming a regular hero."

Sam smiled sheepishly and averted his gaze towards the ground. "Heh, thanks." he then turned to Richard. "Hey! Let's go find mom and dad and help them kick Atrocitus' ass!" He slammed a fist down into an open palm for extra emphasis.

"Whoa whoa, slow down kid. You sure you're feeling okay?" asked Richard. He put a cautious hand on Sam's shoulder. "Besides, I don't think your parents are too keen on you getting into danger."

"Atrocitus is a great deal." Saint Walker adds. "If Hal and Carol told you not to then I suggest you don't follow them."

Sam sighed. "Yeah… okay. Let's just go ahead and find the other stones then! That means… the yellow lanterns and uh-" He pauses and takes a moment to recall the lantern corps on his hand. "and… the Gonzo looking guy as dad calls him."

"Sinestro and Larfleeze are not to be trifled with either Samuel." said Saint Walker. "You can return home or stay here. I don't mind."

"It's probably best if we meet them at home…" Sam admitted, slumping his shoulders. "Bye Walker."

"Goodbye Samuel."

"C'mon Richard, let's go." said Sam as he already started to head off. "I bet Cosmo is missing us."


	15. Chapter 15

On the flight back to the Jordans' place, Richard refrained from asking Sam what he saw in the time stone. But the silence was becoming unbearable, he would have preferred Sam's talkative nature of their trip to Elpis than this.

The Nova Prime glanced over at Sam who flew beside him. His eyes were set and his jaw was slacked. He didn't even acknowledge that Richard was looking at him.

Despite this, Richard waited until they got to Sam's home.

"Okay," he says as the touch base on the driveway. "Something's been obviously eating at you. Spill."

Sam brushed it off and concealed his hurt expression from behind the safety of his helmet. "I just didn't realize how tired I was from all this flying." The boy replied.

Richard inwardly sighed. "Sam… I know you don't know me that very well but I'd like to say that we're ah, closer normally. You helped me realize my humanity through the mindset of the Worldmind."

"You know…" Sam says. "I have no idea what any of that means but I appreciate it."

Sam bent down to retrieve the emergency key from beneath a particular rock hidden in the shrubbery. He then used it to open the door for them, earning a greeting from man's best comrade, Cosmo. The dog jumped up on them, happy to see that they've returned.

"You'll hopefully get your memory back when all this is fixed." said Richard. He gave Cosmo a generous pat on the head before continuing. "But that's besides the point. I want you to know that you can tell me anything you can't tell your dad. My lips are sealed."

Sam looked at the man briefly, and considered his offer. It would be nice to confide in someone who understood him. After all, they were both Novas now and Richard wasn't imperious to feeling the offness in the world. He was the one who knew something was amiss, Sam was just the one who felt like it was.

The boy took his helmet off and reverted back into civilian clothes and gave Richard a long hard look in the eyes. He didn't even know where to begin, but he tried anyway.

"For a long time I've dreamt about the world you come from. You know, like the Nova Corps and the types of problems you've faced. The dreams felt so real and yet… no one actually paid much attention when I talked about it. My friends will just laugh at me, or my parents would just say it's because dad is already a space cop. Or that I just have a wild imagination."

"It drove me nuts, those dreams. I don't know why, but I'd wake up in a cold sweat sometimes. As I got older, I started to get anxiety because of them. I still do, actually. I would suddenly get washed over with a wave of despair because everything in my world felt _wrong._ But everything in the dreams felt so right…"

Sam deflated as he felt a sense of relief come over him. It felt good to share that, but he wasn't sure what good it would do for him.

As fat as Richard was concerned, Sam was right to feel worried. His life is actually perfect here. He has both of his parents— even if they weren't really his— and he was doing pretty okay for the most part. Richard hated to be the bearer of bad news, but he couldn't let the lives of others simply be erased. They all counted on him, he could feel it. It wouldn't do no good if he forgot them too.

The worlds needed to be separated for the greater good.

"It'll be alright." Richard assured, more so for himself than Sam but Sam accepted it graciously.

Richard took off his own helmet and trained his eyes onto Sam's. Brown on black. Eyes of experience on eyes of youth.

"Is that what the time stone made you see?" Richard asked softly.

Sam gave a small nod in return. "I was taken back to a time when my parents were arguing over what to do about it. It was when dad spent a lot more time in space than here."

"I won't lie to you, things from here on out won't get easier." Richard admits as he places a hand onto Sam's shoulder. "But we'll brave through it. We Novas are made of tough stuff."

It was almost comical how Richard reminded Sam of Hal in this moment. Not just because of how similar they looked, but because of their assuredness in what they believed in. Sam took small comfort in this and gave Richard a smile.

"Thank you."

Richard shrugged and brushed the thanks off. "Ah, it's nothing kid."

Sam shook his head. "No really. Thank you for that. I was never able to say that and get that kind of feedback."

Richard allowed himself to grin in return. "As promised, I won't say anything to your mom or dad. But maybe you should consider it. I can see how much they care for you. They'd want to know how it really makes you feel."

_Especially since their time together was limited. _But Richard wasn't going to say that out loud.

After a bit, Sam pulled away to make lunch or something.

"Speaking of mom and dad," he says. "I wonder how they're holding up."

* * *

The Red Lanterns have taken Hal and Carol the rest of the way to Ysmault where certain doom is probably awaiting them.

Rankorr led the way while Bleez and Dex-Starr flanked them. It was too late to try and turn back now, the asphalt smell of blood rivers already greeted them. Not that Hal and Carol wanted to leave. They needed the mind stone, and the easiest way to get close enough to Atrocitus is to feign weakness and pretend to be prisoners. From there on out, the couple would have to rely on their understanding of each other to follow through with the plan. Talking aloud was out of the question.

One they had touched base, Dex-Starr went to retrieve his master as Rankorr and Bleez stood guard. The tension between those two practically radiated off of each other. Partially because they loved each other and partially because Red Lanterns were always angry.

If Hal and Carol wanted to get them riled up and out of commission. Shouldn't be too difficult.

"I can't believe we've gotten taken down by Bleez and Dex-Starr of all people." Hal remarks, speaking loud enough for the two Red Lanterns to hear.

"It was Rankorr who got us." Carol adds, playing into Hal's game. "Now we're probably getting killed by Atrocitus."

Hearing this, Rankorr maliciously smiled to himself and gave a passing glance at Bleez. The woman didn't even look at him in return and bore a scowl on her face. Between the two of them, Atrocitus was probably going to favor Rankorr in their success than her. Bleez didn't know why but the Red Lantern head had made her into his punching bag. The other Red Lanterns weren't impervious to getting beaten by their leader— it was just a byproduct of rage and hatred— but it just had to be her.

And if Rankorr had to show up for an assist, Bleez was not looking forward to what Atrocitus' fist might have to say.

Rankorr might've sensed this discomfort because his smile faltered. Despite it all, he housed some sort of love for Bleez. But they both know that if they let the love consume them… they'll both die. If a Red Lantern is no longer fueled by hatred, their heart will cease to stop pumping artificial blood. In the past they've made it work, but they broke it off for this very reason. They were getting too attached.

But what if…

"You did good today Bleez." Rankorr says as he turns his attention away. It was impossible to hide his expression due to his fiery hair lighting his face but Bleez didn't look anyway. Right now, she'd much rather hate him.

"I won't let him hurt you," he continues.

That must've sparked something in the scantily clad woman because she spun toward him with wide eyes. "Oh yeah?" Bleez inquires. "Where was that all the other times?"

Hal and Carol exchange glances. They hadn't expected this, but if it was working, then so be it.

"Tell me Rankorr!" Bleez presses. The angrier she got, blood oozed from her lips. Every word she spoke flicked blood onto Rankorr's face. "Tell me! What changed huh? You think you're so high and mighty for me? That _I _need your protection?"

Rankorr briefly flinched before matching her rage. "I tried Bleez, okay?! No wonder we didn't work if you're going to be like this!"

_Ouch. _

The two continued to bicker and even started to attack each other, giving Hal and Carol an opening.

Because Rankorr was distracted, his Red Lantern construct around them dissipated, effectively freeing them. All the couple had to do now was find the mind stone and get out of there.

Or more like the mind stone found them.

Overcome by a psychic backlash, both Hal and Carol gripped their heads in pain. Their very thoughts became garbled as it was invaded by Atrocitus.

The large red alien himself entered the scene with his loyal cat Dex-Starr trailing behind him.

His first action was to backhand Bleez as he turned to Rankorr to do the same. He was disappointed in them but that would have to wait. By the very least he had Hal Jordan— who had been a thorn in his side long enough— right where he wanted him. He also had his wife which was almost delightful.

If only they didn't remind Atrocitus of the family he had lost.

Either way, he hated him both and he had the mind stone to play around with.


	16. Chapter 16

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry it's been a while since I last updated, but I really can't tell which of my stories are doing well unless you leave a review to let me know. Otherwise I'll update my other stories first.**

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"Tell me Jordan," said Atrocitus as the mind stone flitted around his coarse fingers. "What is it that makes you the most angry?"

Both he and Dex-Starr glowered at Hal and his wife, anticipating the Green Lantern's reply. Hal gripped his head in pain as the mind stone invaded his thoughts, searching for the answer. Terrible memories are forcefully dug up, revealing themselves to Atrocitus. Each one had a core theme. Ever since becoming Parallax all those years ago, it had always haunted Hal at the back of his mind. He always feared that he might become that monster again and destroy everyone he loves. He feared that he wasn't going to be a good father for Sam and that being a Green Lantern will get in the way of being with his family. He feared that somehow he'd drive Carol away to leave him. He has before. But this wasn't about fear, this was about hatred.

"What is it that you _hate_ the most?" Atrocitus presses, ever the eager.

Carol attempted to fight through her pain and lend a loving hand toward Hal but her body wouldn't listen.

Then the answer came up. Hal's inner voice was projected loud enough for everyone surrounding them to hear.

_"What I hate most is… myself."_

Hal's hatred for himself had reached a boiling point and sent him over the edge. This was attributed to the mind stone's control over one's psyche. Naturally, Hal would've dealt with his self loathing and moved past it.

Atrocitus was satisfied with Hal's answer that he didn't even feel the need to give Carol the same treatment. The worst was yet to come. Dex-Starr briefly retreated from his master's side to retrieve a Red Lantern ring. Now he is back in his place as Atrocitus' intentions are revealed.

**ʜᴀʟ ᴊᴏʀᴅᴀɴ ᴏғ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ, ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ʀᴀɢᴇ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ. ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴇʟᴏɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴅ ʟᴀɴᴛᴇʀɴ ᴄᴏʀᴘs. **

The Red ring glowed and flew over to Hal's hand, fighting with the Green Lantern ring for the rightful spot on the index finger. The Red ring beat itself into the Green ring, ramming itself back and forth. But the Green ring never budged. Hal still clung onto his willpower and he wasn't going to give up that easily.

"I won't…" he protests through gritted teeth.

"Very well then." Atrocitus replied, clamping his large hand around the mind stone. Suddenly Hal gasped out, almost as if the air was ripped out of his lungs, but rather the will out of his system. Atrocitus was trying to make Hal's rage take over his brain so that he would become the greatest Red Lantern there ever was.

The Green ring flung off of Hal's finger, momentarily relieving him of any oxygen and reverting him back into his civilian garb.

"No!" Carol shouted as she broke free of the stone's control. She shot a blast of violet construct toward the Red Lantern ring, sending it flying away before it would inevitably come back.

Faintly the words could still be heard.

_**ʜᴀʟ ᴊᴏʀᴅᴀɴ ᴏғ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ, ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ʀᴀɢᴇ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ. ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴇʟᴏɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴅ ʟᴀɴᴛᴇʀɴ ᴄᴏʀᴘs. **_

Carol refused to let this happen but while he was incapable of getting his Green Lantern ring back, she created a construct bubble that'll give him some air in the meantime. For now, she was going to have to take the mind stone from Atrocitus' hand.

Carol constructs a comically large wrecking ball to slam the red alien into the rock behind him. She kept him pinned there and flew over to see if his grip on the stone let up.

Unfortunately, Atrocitus began to spit up blood that was able to burn through the construct ball and free him. He tried to take over her mind once more, but it didn't last long as Carol's heart is the source of her power. According to the Emotional Spectrum, love and hate were on the outermost ends, countering each other. They were weak to each other, but Carol was going to prove that love was stronger.

She constructed a battering ram and kept ramming Atrocitus into the wall continuously. If he caused it to disintegrate, she would just create another one and continue the process. All she needed him to do was release the mind stone.

While Bleez and Rankorr had taken up fighting one another, Dex-Starr was still around. While he could've defended his master, he instead chose to break Carol's construct bubble around Hal. He spat unto it, causing the pink shield to melt away. At this point Hal would either die from lack of oxygen first, or the Red Lantern ring would come to his aid and convert him. Either way, he had a fair chance of becoming Red as Red Lanterns doesn't need hearts anyway.

The words of the Red ring could be heard more clearly now as it advanced. Hal held onto his breath, trying to cling onto his life. His primal instinct to live, overcoming the mental bearings of Atrocitus. Atrocitus himself was distracted with Carol so he wouldn't notice until it was too late.

The Red ring came zooming in to take its place on Hal's bare finger.

**ʜᴀʟ ᴊᴏʀᴅᴀɴ ᴏғ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ, ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ʀᴀɢᴇ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ. ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴇʟᴏɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ—**

A small _thunk _sound could barely be heard above the scuffling.

**ʜᴀʟ ᴊᴏʀᴅᴀɴ ᴏғ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ, ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙɪʟɪᴛʏ ᴛᴏ ᴏᴠᴇʀᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇ ғᴇᴀʀ. ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴇᴇɴ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ ᴄᴏʀᴘs. **

The will to stay alive has brought Hal's ring back to him, sending the red one away to possibly find a new host elsewhere.

Hal sighed in relief, gulping in air. "Oh thank God," he said, giving his ring a kiss. "Don't ever leave me again."

Taking care of business, Hal conjured up a construct of a slingshot to shoot Dex-Starr away from him and into the two quarreling lovers.

"That's for trying to kill me." Hal quips. He then turned to relieve Carol of the relentless bashing of Atrocitus. If he weren't so tough, she'd have mashed him into mush by now. But she was getting tired and weaker. Her constructs would shatter against the impact.

Coming to her rescue, Hal used a construct of a hand to grab Atrocitus and shake him like a rag doll. Easily, Atrocitus burned through the green light and attempted to use the mind stone on Hal again. But while he was being shaken, the stone flew from his grasp and into the safe hands of Carol Ferris. "Nice try Atrocitus." Hal says. "I'm not going to be your lackey, but flattered."

He then put his attention on Carol. "Ready to go dear?"

Carol simply sighed in exasperation, at loss for words. Hal chuckled at this and flew by her side. "I take it as a yes." He took his weakened wife bridal style and started to fly them back home, leaving the Red Lanterns dumbfounded and upset.


End file.
